Job 15-17

1Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:

2“Does a wise man answer with empty counsel or fill his belly with the hot east wind?

3Should he argue with useless words or speeches that serve no purpose?

4But you even undermine the fear of God and hinder meditation before Him.

5For your iniquity instructs your mouth, and you choose the language of the crafty.

6Your own mouth, not mine, condemns you; your own lips testify against you.

7Were you the first man ever born? Were you brought forth before the hills?

8Do you listen in on the council of God or limit wisdom to yourself?

9What do you know that we do not? What do you understand that is not clear to us?

10Both the gray-haired and the aged are on our side— men much older than your father.

11Are the consolations of God not enough for you, even words spoken gently to you?

12Why has your heart carried you away, and why do your eyes flash,

13so that you turn your spirit against God and pour such words from your mouth?

14What is man, that he should be pure, or one born of woman, that he should be righteous?

15If God puts no trust in His holy ones, if even the heavens are not pure in His eyes,

16how much less man, who is vile and corrupt, who drinks injustice like water?

17Listen to me and I will inform you. I will describe what I have seen,

18what was declared by wise men and was not concealed from their fathers,

19to whom alone the land was given when no foreigner passed among them.

20A wicked man writhes in pain all his days; only a few years are reserved for the ruthless.

21Sounds of terror fill his ears; in his prosperity the destroyer attacks him.

22He despairs of his return from darkness; he is marked for the sword.

23He wanders about as food for vultures; he knows the day of darkness is at hand.

24Distress and anguish terrify him, overwhelming him like a king poised to attack.

25For he has stretched out his hand against God and has vaunted himself against the Almighty,

26rushing headlong at Him with a thick, studded shield.

27Though his face is covered with fat and his waistline bulges with flesh,

28he will dwell in ruined cities, in abandoned houses destined to become rubble.

29He will no longer be rich; his wealth will not endure. His possessions will not overspread the land.

30He will not escape from the darkness; the flame will wither his shoots, and the breath of God’s mouth will carry him away.

31Let him not deceive himself with trust in emptiness, for emptiness will be his reward.

32It will be paid in full before his time, and his branch will not flourish.

33He will be like a vine stripped of its unripe grapes, like an olive tree that sheds its blossoms.

34For the company of the godless will be barren, and fire will consume the tents of bribery.

35They conceive trouble and give birth to evil; their womb is pregnant with deceit.”

1Then Job answered:

2“I have heard many things like these; miserable comforters are you all.

3Is there no end to your long-winded speeches? What provokes you to continue testifying?

4I could also speak like you if you were in my place; I could heap up words against you and shake my head at you.

5But I would encourage you with my mouth, and the consolation of my lips would bring relief.

6Even if I speak, my pain is not relieved, and if I hold back, how will it go away?

7Surely He has now exhausted me; You have devastated all my family.

8You have bound me, and it has become a witness; my frailty rises up and testifies against me.

9His anger has torn me and opposed me; He gnashes His teeth at me. My adversary pierces me with His eyes.

10They open their mouths against me and strike my cheeks with contempt; they join together against me.

11God has delivered me to unjust men; He has thrown me to the clutches of the wicked.

12I was at ease, but He shattered me; He seized me by the neck and crushed me. He has set me up as His target;

13His archers surround me. He pierces my kidneys without mercy and spills my gall on the ground.

14He breaks me with wound upon wound; He rushes me like a mighty warrior.

15I have sewn sackcloth over my skin; I have buried my horn in the dust.

16My face is red with weeping, and deep shadows ring my eyes;

17yet my hands are free of violence and my prayer is pure.

18O earth, do not cover my blood; may my cry for help never be laid to rest.

19Even now my witness is in heaven, and my advocate is on high.

20My friends are my scoffers as my eyes pour out tears to God.

21Oh, that a man might plead with God as he pleads with his neighbor!

22For when only a few years are past I will go the way of no return.

1“My spirit is broken; my days are extinguished; the grave awaits me.

2Surely mockers surround me, and my eyes must gaze at their rebellion.

3Give me, I pray, the pledge You demand. Who else will be my guarantor?

4You have closed their minds to understanding; therefore You will not exalt them.

5If a man denounces his friends for a price, the eyes of his children will fail.

6He has made me a byword among the people, a man in whose face they spit.

7My eyes have grown dim with grief, and my whole body is but a shadow.

8The upright are appalled at this, and the innocent are stirred against the godless.

9Yet a righteous one holds to his way, and the one with clean hands grows stronger.

10But come back and try again, all of you. For I will not find a wise man among you.

11My days have passed; my plans are broken off— even the desires of my heart.

12They have turned night into day, making light seem near in the face of darkness.

13If I look for Sheol as my home, if I spread out my bed in darkness,

14and say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’

15where then is my hope? Who can see any hope for me?

16Will it go down to the gates of Sheol? Will we go down together into the dust?”