Verse 1
Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said,
Verse 2
Should a wise man utter vain knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind?
Verse 3
Should he reason with unprofitable talk? or with speeches wherewith he can do no good?
Verse 4
Yea, thou castest off fear, and restrainest prayer before God.
Verse 5
For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.
Verse 6
Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I: yea, thine own lips testify against thee.
Verse 7
Art thou the first man that was born? or wast thou made before the hills?
Verse 8
Hast thou heard the secret of God? and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself?
Verse 9
What knowest thou, that we know not? what understandest thou, which is not in us?
Verse 10
With us are both the grayheaded and very aged men, much elder than thy father.
Verse 11
Are the consolations of God small with thee? is there any secret thing with thee?
Verse 12
Why doth thine heart carry thee away? and what do thy eyes wink at,
Verse 13
That thou turnest thy spirit against God, and lettest such words go out of thy mouth?
Verse 14
What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
Verse 15
Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight.
Verse 16
How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water?
Verse 17
I will shew thee, hear me; and that which I have seen I will declare;
Verse 18
Which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hid it:
Verse 19
Unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them.
Verse 20
The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor.
Verse 21
A dreadful sound is in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him.
Verse 22
He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for of the sword.
Verse 23
He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where is it? he knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.
Verse 24
Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid; they shall prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.
Verse 25
For he stretcheth out his hand against God, and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty.
Verse 26
He runneth upon him, even on his neck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers:
Verse 27
Because he covereth his face with his fatness, and maketh collops of fat on his flanks.
Verse 28
And he dwelleth in desolate cities, and in houses which no man inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps.
Verse 29
He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth.
Verse 30
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.
Verse 31
Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity: for vanity shall be his recompence.
Verse 32
It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be green.
Verse 33
He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive.
Verse 34
For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery.
Verse 35
They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth deceit.