1: Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered, 2: "Should a wise man answer with vain knowledge, And fill himself with the east wind? 3: Should he reason with unprofitable talk, Or with speeches with which he can do no good? 4: Yes, you do away with fear, And hinder devotion before God. 5: For your iniquity teaches your mouth, And you choose the language of the crafty. 6: Your own mouth condemns you, and not I; Yes, your own lips testify against you. 7: "Are you the first man who was born? Or were you brought forth before the hills? 8: Have you heard the secret counsel of God? Do you limit wisdom to yourself? 9: What do you know, that we don't know? What do you understand, which is not in us? 10: With us are both the gray-headed and the very aged men, Much elder than your father. 11: Are the consolations of God too small for you, Even the word that is gentle toward you? 12: Why does your heart carry you away? Why do your eyes flash, 13: That you turn your spirit against God, And let such words go out of your mouth? 14: What is man, that he should be clean? He who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous? 15: Behold, he puts no trust in his holy ones; Yes, the heavens are not clean in his sight: 16: How much less one who is abominable and corrupt, A man who drinks iniquity like water! 17: "I will show you, listen to me; That which I have seen I will declare: 18: (Which wise men have told From their fathers, and have not hidden it; 19: To whom alone the land was given, And no stranger passed among them): 20: The wicked man travails with pain all his days, Even the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor. 21: A sound of terrors is in his ears; In prosperity the destroyer shall come on him. 22: He doesn't believe that he shall return out of darkness, He is waited for by the sword. 23: He wanders abroad for bread, saying, 'Where is it?' He knows that the day of darkness is ready at his hand. 24: Distress and anguish make him afraid; They prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle. 25: Because he has stretched out his hand against God, And behaves himself proudly against the Almighty; 26: He runs at him with a stiff neck, With the thick shields of his bucklers; 27: Because he has covered his face with his fatness, And gathered fat on his loins. 28: He has lived in desolate cities, In houses which no one inhabited, Which were ready to become heaps. 29: He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, Neither shall their possessions be extended on the earth. 30: He shall not depart out of darkness; The flame shall dry up his branches, By the breath of God's mouth shall he go away. 31: Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself; For emptiness shall be his reward. 32: It shall be accomplished before his time. His branch shall not be green. 33: He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, And shall cast off his flower as the olive tree. 34: For the company of the godless shall be barren, And fire shall consume the tents of bribery. 35: They conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity. Their heart prepares deceit."
