Eliphaz Speaks Again

1Then Eliphaz from Teman responded:

2“Should a wise person respond with knowledge based on wind?

Should he fill his stomach with a wind storm from the east?

3Should he engage in unprofitable argument,

or give a speech that benefits no one?

4Yet you dispense with fear of God

and hinder meditations before God.

5Because your sin dictates your speech,a

you have chosen the languageb of the crafty.

6Your own mouth is condemning you, not I;

your own lips will testify against you.”

Eliphaz Claims that Job is Guilty

7“Were you the first personc to be born?

Were you brought forth before the hills were made?

8Have you listened in on God’s secret council?

Have you limited wisdom only to yourself?

9What do you know that we don’t know,

or that you understand and that isn’t clear to us?

10“We have both the gray-haired and the aged with us,

and they are far olderd than your father.

11Are God’s encouragements inconsequential to you,

even a word that has been spokene gently to you?

12Why have your emotionsf carried you away?

And why do your eyes flash

13that you turn your angerg against God

and speak words like this?

14“What is mankind, that he can be blameless?

Or does being born of a woman mean he’ll be in the right?

15Look, if Godh doesn’t trust his holy ones,i

if even the heavens aren’t pure as he looks at them,

16then how much less is one who is abhorred and corrupted,

such as a man who drinks injustice like water?”

Eliphaz Describes the Plight of the Wicked

17“I’ll tell you what, listen to me!

Let me relate what I’ve seen,

18which is what wise men have explained,

who didn’t withhold anything from their ancestors.

19To them alone was the land given,

when no invaderj passed through their midst.

20“The wicked person writhes in pain throughout his life,

a number of years has been reserved for the ruthless.

21Terrifying sounds ringk in his ears;

when times are prosperous, the Destroyer will attackl him.

22He does not believe he will escapem darkness;

he is destined for the sword.

23He wanders around for food—where is it?

He knows that a time of darkness is near.n

24Distress and pressure terrify him;

they overwhelm him, like a king poised for attack.

25“For he has raised his fist against God,

defying the Almighty.

26He defiantly ran against him

carrying his thick, reinforced shield.

27Though he covered his face with fat,

and is grossly overweight at the waist,

28He will live in devastated towns,

in abandoned houses

that are about to become heaps of rubble.

29“He won’t become rich and his wealth won’t last;

he won’t expand his holdings to cover the land.

30He won’t escape darkness;

a flame will wither his shoots;

and he’ll depart by the breath of God’so mouth.

31Let him not trust in a worthless speech.

He leads only himself astray,

for emptiness will be his reward.

32This will be accomplished before his time;p

his branches won’t grow luxuriant.

33“He is like a vine that drops its unripe grapes;

like an olive tree that loses its blossoms.

34For the company of the godless is desolation,

and fire consumes the tents of those whoq bribe.

35For they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity;

their womb is pregnantr with deception.”