| King James Bible | New International Version |
| 1Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said, | 1Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied: |
| 2Should a wise man utter vain knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind? | 2"Would a wise person answer with empty notions or fill their belly with the hot east wind? |
| 3Should he reason with unprofitable talk? or with speeches wherewith he can do no good? | 3Would they argue with useless words, with speeches that have no value? |
| 4Yea, thou castest off fear, and restrainest prayer before God. | 4But you even undermine piety and hinder devotion to God. |
| 5For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty. | 5Your sin prompts your mouth; you adopt the tongue of the crafty. |
| 6Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I: yea, thine own lips testify against thee. | 6Your own mouth condemns you, not mine; your own lips testify against you. |
| 7Art thou the first man that was born? or wast thou made before the hills? | 7"Are 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 council? Do you have a monopoly on wisdom? |
| 9What knowest thou, that we know not? what understandest thou, which is not in us? | 9What do you know that we do not know? What insights do you have that we do not have? |
| 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 even older than your father. |
| 11Are the consolations of God small with thee? is there any secret thing with thee? | 11Are God's consolations not enough for you, words spoken gently 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? | 13so that you vent your rage against God and pour out such words from your mouth? |
| 14What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous? | 14"What are mortals, that they could be pure, or those born of woman, that they could 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 mortals, who are vile and corrupt, who drink up evil like water! |
| 17I will shew thee, hear me; and that which I have seen I will declare; | 17"Listen to me and I will explain to you; let me tell you what I have seen, |
| 18Which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hid it: | 18what the wise have declared, hiding nothing received from their ancestors |
| 19Unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them. | 19(to whom alone the land was given when no foreigners moved 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, the ruthless man through all the years stored up for him. |
| 21A dreadful sound is in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him. | 21Terrifying sounds fill his ears; when all seems well, marauders attack him. |
| 22He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for of the sword. | 22He despairs of escaping the realm of 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 for food like a vulture; he knows 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 fill him with terror; troubles overwhelm him, like a king poised to attack, |
| 25For he stretcheth out his hand against God, and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty. | 25because he shakes his fist at 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. | 27"Though his face is covered with fat and his waist bulges with flesh, |
| 28And he dwelleth in desolate cities, and in houses which no man inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps. | 28he will inhabit ruined towns and houses where no one lives, houses crumbling to rubble. |
| 29He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth. | 29He will no longer be 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 the breath of God's mouth will carry him away. |
| 31Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity: for vanity shall be his recompence. | 31Let him not deceive himself by trusting what is worthless, for he will get nothing in return. |
| 32It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be green. | 32Before his time he will wither, 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. | 33He will be like a vine stripped of its unripe grapes, like an olive tree shedding its blossoms. |
| 34For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery. | 34For the company of the godless will be barren, and fire will consume the tents of those who love bribes. |
| 35They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth deceit. | 35They conceive trouble and give birth to evil; their womb fashions deceit." |
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