Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:

Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said,

Should a wise man answer with empty words, and fill his belly with the hot east wind?

Should a wise man utter vain knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind?

Should he argue in a way that is useless and speak words that bring no benefit?

Should he reason with unprofitable talk? or with speeches wherewith he can do no good?

But you are tearing down reverence and diminishing devotion to God.

Yea, thou castest off fear, and restrainest prayer before God.

For your iniquity teaches your mouth, and you choose the language of the crafty.

For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.

Your own mouth condemns you, not I; your lips testify against you.

Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I: yea, thine own lips testify against thee.

Were you the first man to be born, or were you brought forth before the hills?

Art thou the first man that was born? or wast thou made before the hills?

Have you listened to the secret counsel of God and limited wisdom to yourself?

Hast thou heard the secret of God? and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself?

What do you know that we do not know? What insight do you have that is not with us?

What knowest thou, that we know not? what understandest thou, which is not in us?

Both the gray-haired and the aged are among us, men much older than your father.

With us are both the grayheaded and very aged men, much elder than thy father.

Are the consolations of God too trivial for you, or a word spoken gently with you?

Are the consolations of God small with thee? is there any secret thing with thee?

Why does your heart carry you away, and why do your eyes flash?

Why doth thine heart carry thee away? and what do thy eyes wink at,

That you turn your spirit against God and let words escape from your mouth?

That thou turnest thy spirit against God, and lettest such words go out of thy mouth?

What is man, that he could be pure, or one born of a woman, that he could be righteous?

What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?

Behold, God puts no trust in His holy ones, and even the heavens are not pure in His sight.

Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight.

How much less is a man, who is detestable and corrupt, one who drinks iniquity like water!

How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water?

I will show you; listen to me, and let me declare what I have seen:

I will shew thee, hear me; and that which I have seen I will declare;

What wise men have declared, and have not hidden from their ancestors,

Which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hid it:

To whom alone the land was given, and no stranger passed among them.

Unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them.

All the days of the wicked man he writhes in pain, and the years allotted to the ruthless are hidden away.

The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor.

Terrifying sounds are in his ears; in prosperity, the destroyer will come upon him.

A dreadful sound is in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him.

He does not believe he will return from the darkness; he is marked for the sword.

He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for of the sword.

He wanders about for food, asking, 'Where is it?' He knows that the day of darkness is ready at hand.

He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where is it? he knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.

Distress and anguish terrify him; they overpower him like a king prepared for battle.

Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid; they shall prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.

For he has stretched out his hand against God and boasts arrogantly against the Almighty.

For he stretcheth out his hand against God, and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty.

He rushes against Him defiantly, with a sturdy shield for the thickness of his defense.

He runneth upon him, even on his neck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers:

Though he has covered his face with fat and clothed his waist with layers of flesh,

Because he covereth his face with his fatness, and maketh collops of fat on his flanks.

he will dwell in desolated cities, in houses no one inhabits, destined to become ruins.

And he dwelleth in desolate cities, and in houses which no man inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps.

He will no longer be rich, and his wealth will not endure, nor will his possessions spread out across the land.

He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth.

He will not escape from darkness; a flame will dry up his branch, and the breath of God's mouth will carry him away.

He shall not depart out of darkness; the flame shall dry up his branches, and by the breath of his mouth shall he go away.

Let him not trust in worthlessness, deceiving himself, for worthlessness will be his reward.

Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity: for vanity shall be his recompence.

It will be fulfilled before his time, and his branch will not remain green.

It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be green.

He will shake off his unripe grapes like a vine and cast away his blossoms like the olive tree.

He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive.

For the company of the godless is barren, and fire consumes the tents of bribery.

For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery.

They conceive trouble and give birth to wickedness; their womb prepares deceit.

They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth deceit.