| New International Version | English Standard Version |
| 1Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied: | 1Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said: |
| 2"Would a wise person answer with empty notions or fill their belly with the hot east wind? | 2“Should a wise man answer with windy knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind? |
| 3Would they argue with useless words, with speeches that have no value? | 3Should he argue in unprofitable talk, or in words with which he can do no good? |
| 4But you even undermine piety and hinder devotion to God. | 4But you are doing away with the fear of God and hindering meditation before God. |
| 5Your sin prompts your mouth; you adopt the tongue of the crafty. | 5For your iniquity teaches your mouth, and you choose the tongue of the crafty. |
| 6Your own mouth condemns you, not mine; your own lips testify against you. | 6Your own mouth condemns you, and not I; your own lips testify against you. |
| 7"Are you the first man ever born? Were you brought forth before the hills? | 7“Are you the first man who was born? Or were you brought forth before the hills? |
| 8Do you listen in on God's council? Do you have a monopoly on wisdom? | 8Have you listened in the council of God? And do you limit wisdom to yourself? |
| 9What do you know that we do not know? What insights do you have that we do not have? | 9What do you know that we do not know? What do you understand that is not clear to us? |
| 10The gray-haired and the aged are on our side, men even older than your father. | 10Both the gray-haired and the aged are among us, older than your father. |
| 11Are God's consolations not enough for you, words spoken gently to you? | 11Are the comforts of God too small for you, or the word that deals gently with you? |
| 12Why has your heart carried you away, and why do your eyes flash, | 12Why does your heart carry you away, and why do your eyes flash, |
| 13so that you vent your rage against God and pour out such words from your mouth? | 13that you turn your spirit against God and bring such words out of your mouth? |
| 14"What are mortals, that they could be pure, or those born of woman, that they could be righteous? | 14What is man, that he can be pure? Or he who is born of a woman, that he can be righteous? |
| 15If God places no trust in his holy ones, if even the heavens are not pure in his eyes, | 15Behold, God puts no trust in his holy ones, and the heavens are not pure in his sight; |
| 16how much less mortals, who are vile and corrupt, who drink up evil like water! | 16how much less one who is abominable and corrupt, a man who drinks injustice like water! |
| 17"Listen to me and I will explain to you; let me tell you what I have seen, | 17“I will show you; hear me, and what I have seen I will declare |
| 18what the wise have declared, hiding nothing received from their ancestors | 18(what wise men have told, without hiding it from their fathers, |
| 19(to whom alone the land was given when no foreigners moved among them): | 19to whom alone the land was given, and no stranger passed among them). |
| 20All his days the wicked man suffers torment, the ruthless man through all the years stored up for him. | 20The wicked man writhes in pain all his days, through all the years that are laid up for the ruthless. |
| 21Terrifying sounds fill his ears; when all seems well, marauders attack him. | 21Dreadful sounds are in his ears; in prosperity the destroyer will come upon him. |
| 22He despairs of escaping the realm of darkness; he is marked for the sword. | 22He does not believe that he will return out of darkness, and he is marked for the sword. |
| 23He wanders about for food like a vulture; he knows the day of darkness is at hand. | 23He wanders abroad for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’ He knows that a day of darkness is ready at his hand; |
| 24Distress and anguish fill him with terror; troubles overwhelm him, like a king poised to attack, | 24distress and anguish terrify him; they prevail against him, like a king ready for battle. |
| 25because he shakes his fist at God and vaunts himself against the Almighty, | 25Because he has stretched out his hand against God and defies the Almighty, |
| 26defiantly charging against him with a thick, strong shield. | 26running stubbornly against him with a thickly bossed shield; |
| 27"Though his face is covered with fat and his waist bulges with flesh, | 27because he has covered his face with his fat and gathered fat upon his waist |
| 28he will inhabit ruined towns and houses where no one lives, houses crumbling to rubble. | 28and has lived in desolate cities, in houses that none should inhabit, which were ready to become heaps of ruins; |
| 29He will no longer be rich and his wealth will not endure, nor will his possessions spread over the land. | 29he will not be rich, and his wealth will not endure, nor will his possessions spread over the earth; |
| 30He will not escape the darkness; a flame will wither his shoots, and the breath of God's mouth will carry him away. | 30he will not depart from darkness; the flame will dry up his shoots, and by the breath of his mouth he will depart. |
| 31Let him not deceive himself by trusting what is worthless, for he will get nothing in return. | 31Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself, for emptiness will be his payment. |
| 32Before his time he will wither, and his branches will not flourish. | 32It will be paid in full before his time, and his branch will not be green. |
| 33He will be like a vine stripped of its unripe grapes, like an olive tree shedding its blossoms. | 33He will shake off his unripe grape like the vine, and cast off his blossom like the olive tree. |
| 34For the company of the godless will be barren, and fire will consume the tents of those who love bribes. | 34For the company of the godless is barren, and fire consumes the tents of bribery. |
| 35They conceive trouble and give birth to evil; their womb fashions deceit." | 35They conceive trouble and give birth to evil, and their womb prepares deceit.” |
| New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. | ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. |
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