| King James Bible | NET Bible |
| 1Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said, | 1Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered: |
| 2Should a wise man utter vain knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind? | 2"Does a wise man answer with blustery knowledge, or fill his belly with the east wind? |
| 3Should he reason with unprofitable talk? or with speeches wherewith he can do no good? | 3Does he argue with useless talk, with words that have no value in them? |
| 4Yea, thou castest off fear, and restrainest prayer before God. | 4But you even break off piety, and hinder meditation before God. |
| 5For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty. | 5Your sin inspires your mouth; you choose the language of the crafty. |
| 6Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I: yea, thine own lips testify against thee. | 6Your own mouth condemns you, not I; your own lips testify against you. |
| 7Art thou the first man that was born? or wast thou made before the hills? | 7"Were you the first man ever born? Were you brought forth before the hills? |
| 8Hast thou heard the secret of God? and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself? | 8Do you listen in on God's secret council? Do you limit wisdom to yourself? |
| 9What knowest thou, that we know not? what understandest thou, which is not in us? | 9What do you know that we don't know? What do you understand that we don't understand? |
| 10With us are both the grayheaded and very aged men, much elder than thy father. | 10The gray-haired and the aged are on our side, men far older than your father. |
| 11Are the consolations of God small with thee? is there any secret thing with thee? | 11Are God's consolations too trivial for you; or a word spoken in gentleness to you? |
| 12Why doth thine heart carry thee away? and what do thy eyes wink at, | 12Why has your heart carried you away, and why do your eyes flash, |
| 13That thou turnest thy spirit against God, and lettest such words go out of thy mouth? | 13when you turn your rage against God and allow such words to escape from your mouth? |
| 14What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous? | 14What is man that he should be pure, or one born of woman, that he should be righteous? |
| 15Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight. | 15If God places no trust in his holy ones, if even the heavens are not pure in his eyes, |
| 16How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water? | 16how much less man, who is abominable and corrupt, who drinks in evil like water! |
| 17I will shew thee, hear me; and that which I have seen I will declare; | 17"I will explain to you; listen to me, and what I have seen, I will declare, |
| 18Which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hid it: | 18what wise men declare, hiding nothing, from the tradition of their ancestors, |
| 19Unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them. | 19to whom alone the land was given when no foreigner passed among them. |
| 20The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor. | 20All his days the wicked man suffers torment, throughout the number of the years that are stored up for the tyrant. |
| 21A dreadful sound is in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him. | 21Terrifying sounds fill his ears; in a time of peace marauders attack him. |
| 22He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for of the sword. | 22He does not expect to escape from darkness; he is marked for the sword; |
| 23He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where is it? he knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand. | 23he wanders about--food for vultures; he knows that the day of darkness is at hand. |
| 24Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid; they shall prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle. | 24Distress and anguish terrify him; they prevail against him like a king ready to launch an attack, |
| 25For he stretcheth out his hand against God, and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty. | 25for he stretches out his hand against God, and vaunts himself against the Almighty, |
| 26He runneth upon him, even on his neck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers: | 26defiantly charging against him with a thick, strong shield! |
| 27Because he covereth his face with his fatness, and maketh collops of fat on his flanks. | 27Because he covered his face with fat, and made his hips bulge with fat, |
| 28And he dwelleth in desolate cities, and in houses which no man inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps. | 28he lived in ruined towns and in houses where no one lives, where they are ready to crumble into heaps. |
| 29He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth. | 29He will not grow rich, and his wealth will not endure, nor will his possessions spread over the land. |
| 30He shall not depart out of darkness; the flame shall dry up his branches, and by the breath of his mouth shall he go away. | 30He will not escape the darkness; a flame will wither his shoots and he will depart by the breath of God's mouth. |
| 31Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity: for vanity shall be his recompence. | 31Let him not trust in what is worthless, deceiving himself; for worthlessness will be his reward. |
| 32It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be green. | 32Before his time he will be paid in full, and his branches will not flourish. |
| 33He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive. | 33Like a vine he will let his sour grapes fall, and like an olive tree he will shed his blossoms. |
| 34For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery. | 34For the company of the godless is barren, and fire consumes the tents of those who accept bribes. |
| 35They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth deceit. | 35They conceive trouble and bring forth evil; their belly prepares deception." |
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