Eliphaz Says Job Presumes Much
15 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered [Job] and said,
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“Should a wise man [such as you] utter such windy and vain knowledge [as we have just heard]
And fill himself with the east wind [of withering, parching, and violent accusations]?
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“Should he rebuke and argue with useless talk?
Or with words in which there is no benefit?
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“Indeed, you are doing away with fear,
And you are diminishing meditation before God.
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“For your guilt teaches your mouth,
And you choose [to speak] the language of the crafty and cunning.
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“Your own mouth condemns you, and not I;
Yes, your own lips testify against you.
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“Were you the first man to be born [the original wise man],
Or were you created before the hills?
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“Do you hear the secret counsel of God,
And do you limit [the possession of] wisdom to yourself?
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“What do you know that we do not know?
What do you understand that is not equally clear to us?
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“Among us are both the gray-haired and the aged,
Older than your father.
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“Are the consolations of God [as we have interpreted them to you] too trivial for you,
[Or] were we too gentle toward you [in our first speech] to be effective?
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“Why does your heart carry you away [allowing you to be controlled by emotion]?
And why do your eyes flash [in anger or contempt],
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That you should turn your spirit against God
And let such words [as you have spoken] go out of your mouth?
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“What is man, that he should be pure and clean,
Or he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous and just?
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“Behold, God puts no trust in His holy ones (angels);
Indeed, the heavens are not pure in His sight—
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How much less [pure and clean is] the one who is repulsive and corrupt,
Man, who drinks unrighteousness and injustice like water!
What Eliphaz Has Seen of Life
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“I will tell you, listen to me;
And what I have seen I will also declare;
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What wise men have [freely] told,
And have not hidden [anything passed on to them] from their fathers,
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To whom alone the land was given,
And no stranger passed among them [corrupting the truth].
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“The wicked man writhes with pain all his days,
And numbered are the years stored up for him, the ruthless one.
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“A [dreadful] sound of terrors is in his ears;
While at peace and in a time of prosperity the destroyer comes upon him [the tent of the robber is not at peace].
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“He does not believe that he will return out of the darkness [for fear of being murdered],
And he is destined for the sword [of God’s vengeance].
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“He wanders about for food, saying, ‘Where is it?’
He knows that the day of darkness and destruction is already at hand.
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“Distress and anxiety terrify him,
They overpower him like a king ready for battle.
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“Because he has stretched out his hand against God
And behaves arrogantly against [a]the Almighty,
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Running and charging headlong against Him
With his ornamented and massive shield;
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For he has covered his face with his fat,
Adding layers of fat to his thighs [giving himself up to pleasures],
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And he has lived in desolate [God-forsaken] cities,
In houses which no one should inhabit,
Which were destined to become heaps [of ruins];
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He will not become rich, nor will his wealth endure;
And his grain will not bend to the earth nor his possessions be extended on the earth.
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“He will not escape from darkness [fleeing disaster];
The flame [of God’s wrath] will wither his branch,
And by the blast of His mouth he will go away.
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“Let him not trust in vanity (emptiness, futility) and be led astray;
For emptiness will be his [b]reward [for such living].
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“It will be fulfilled while he still lives,
And his branch will not be green [but shall wither away].
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“He will fail to bring his grapes to maturity [leaving them to wither unnourished] on the vine,
And will cast off blossoms [and fail to bring forth fruit] like the olive tree.
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“For the company of the godless is barren,
And fire consumes the tents of bribery (wrong and injustice).
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“They conceive mischief and bring forth wickedness,
And their inmost soul prepares deceit and fraud.”