| International Standard Version | NET Bible |
| 1Then Eliphaz from Teman responded: | 1Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered: |
| 2"Should a wise person respond with knowledge based on wind? Should he fill his stomach with a wind storm from the east? | 2"Does a wise man answer with blustery knowledge, or fill his belly with the east wind? |
| 3Should he engage in unprofitable argument, or give a speech that benefits no one? | 3Does he argue with useless talk, with words that have no value in them? |
| 4Yet you dispense with fear of God and hinder meditations before God. | 4But you even break off piety, and hinder meditation before God. |
| 5Because your sin dictates your speech, you have chosen the language of the crafty. | 5Your sin inspires your mouth; you choose the language of the crafty. |
| 6Your own mouth is condemning you, not I; your own lips will testify against you." | 6Your own mouth condemns you, not I; your own lips testify against you. |
| 7"Were you the first person to be born? Were you brought forth before the hills were made? | 7"Were you the first man ever born? Were you brought forth before the hills? |
| 8Have you listened in on God's secret council? Have you limited wisdom only to yourself? | 8Do you listen in on God's secret council? Do you limit wisdom to yourself? |
| 9What do you know that we don't know, or that you understand and that isn't clear to us? | 9What do you know that we don't know? What do you understand that we don't understand? |
| 10"We have both the gray-haired and the aged with us, and they are far older than your father. | 10The gray-haired and the aged are on our side, men far older than your father. |
| 11Are God's encouragements inconsequential to you, even a word that has been spoken gently to you? | 11Are God's consolations too trivial for you; or a word spoken in gentleness to you? |
| 12Why have your emotions carried you away? And why do your eyes flash | 12Why has your heart carried you away, and why do your eyes flash, |
| 13that you turn your anger against God and speak words like this? | 13when you turn your rage against God and allow such words to escape from your mouth? |
| 14"What is mankind, that he can be blameless? Or does being born of a woman mean he'll be in the right? | 14What is man that he should be pure, or one born of woman, that he should be righteous? |
| 15Look, if God doesn't trust his holy ones, if even the heavens aren't pure as he looks at them, | 15If God places no trust in his holy ones, if even the heavens are not pure in his eyes, |
| 16then how much less is one who is abhorred and corrupted, such as a man who drinks injustice like water?" | 16how much less man, who is abominable and corrupt, who drinks in evil like water! |
| 17"I'll tell you what, listen to me! Let me relate what I've seen, | 17"I will explain to you; listen to me, and what I have seen, I will declare, |
| 18which is what wise men have explained, who didn't withhold anything from their ancestors. | 18what wise men declare, hiding nothing, from the tradition of their ancestors, |
| 19To them alone was the land given, when no invader passed through their midst. | 19to whom alone the land was given when no foreigner passed among them. |
| 20"The wicked person writhes in pain throughout his life, a number of years has been reserved for the ruthless. | 20All his days the wicked man suffers torment, throughout the number of the years that are stored up for the tyrant. |
| 21Terrifying sounds ring in his ears; when times are prosperous, the Destroyer will attack him. | 21Terrifying sounds fill his ears; in a time of peace marauders attack him. |
| 22He does not believe he will escape darkness; he is destined for the sword. | 22He does not expect to escape from darkness; he is marked for the sword; |
| 23He wanders around for food—where is it? He knows that a time of darkness is near. | 23he wanders about--food for vultures; he knows that the day of darkness is at hand. |
| 24Distress and pressure terrify him; they overwhelm him, like a king poised for attack. | 24Distress and anguish terrify him; they prevail against him like a king ready to launch an attack, |
| 25"For he has raised his fist against God, defying the Almighty. | 25for he stretches out his hand against God, and vaunts himself against the Almighty, |
| 26He defiantly ran against him carrying his thick, reinforced shield. | 26defiantly charging against him with a thick, strong shield! |
| 27Though he covered his face with fat, and is grossly overweight at the waist, | 27Because he covered his face with fat, and made his hips bulge with fat, |
| 28He will live in devastated towns, in abandoned houses that are about to become heaps of rubble. | 28he lived in ruined towns and in houses where no one lives, where they are ready to crumble into heaps. |
| 29"He won't become rich and his wealth won't last; he won't expand his holdings to cover the land. | 29He will not grow rich, and his wealth will not endure, nor will his possessions spread over the land. |
| 30He won't escape darkness; a flame will wither his shoots; and he'll depart by the breath of God's mouth. | 30He will not escape the darkness; a flame will wither his shoots and he will depart by the breath of God's mouth. |
| 31Let him not trust in a worthless speech. He leads only himself astray, for emptiness will be his reward. | 31Let him not trust in what is worthless, deceiving himself; for worthlessness will be his reward. |
| 32This will be accomplished before his time; his branches won't grow luxuriant. | 32Before his time he will be paid in full, and his branches will not flourish. |
| 33"He is like a vine that drops its unripe grapes; like an olive tree that loses its blossoms. | 33Like a vine he will let his sour grapes fall, and like an olive tree he will shed his blossoms. |
| 34For the company of the godless is desolation, and fire consumes the tents of those who bribe. | 34For the company of the godless is barren, and fire consumes the tents of those who accept bribes. |
| 35For they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity; their womb is pregnant with deception." | 35They conceive trouble and bring forth evil; their belly prepares deception." |
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