Iyov (Job) 15
15
1Then Elifaz the Teimani spoke:
2“Should a wise man answer with hot-air arguments?
Should he fill up his belly with the hot east wind?
3Should he reason with useless talk
or make speeches that do him no good?
4“Why, you are abolishing fear of God
and hindering prayer to him!
5Your iniquity is teaching you how to speak,
and deceit is your language of choice.
6Your own mouth condemns you, not I;
your own lips testify against you.
7“Were you the firstborn of the human race,
brought forth before the hills?
8Do you listen in on God’s secrets?
Do you limit wisdom to yourself?
9What do you know that we don’t know?
What discernment do you have that we don’t?
10With us are gray-haired men, old men,
men much older than your father.
11Are the comfortings of God not enough for you,
or a word that deals gently with you?
12Why does your heart carry you away,
and why do your eyes flash angrily,
13so that you turn your spirit against God
and let such words escape your mouth?
14“What is a human being, that he could be innocent,
someone born from a woman, that he could be righteous?
15God doesn’t trust even his holy ones;
no, even the heavens are not innocent in his view.
16How much less one loathesome and corrupt,
a human being, who drinks iniquity like water.
17“I will tell you — hear me out!
I will recount what I have seen;
18wise men have told it,
and it wasn’t hidden from their fathers either,
19to whom alone the land was given —
no foreigner passed among them.
20“The wicked is in torment all his life,
for all the years allotted to the tyrant.
21Terrifying sounds are in his ears;
in prosperity, robbers swoop down on him.
22He despairs of returning from darkness —
he is destined to meet the sword.
23He wanders and looks for food, which isn’t there.
He knows the day of darkness is ready, at hand.
24Distress and anguish overwhelm him,
assaulting him like a king about to enter battle.
25“He raises his hand against God
and boldly defies Shaddai,
26running against him with head held high
and thickly ornamented shield.
27“He lets his face grow gross and fat,
and the rest of him bulges with blubber;
28he lives in abandoned cities,
in houses no one would inhabit,
houses about to become ruins;
29therefore he will not remain rich,
his wealth will not endure,
his produce will not bend
[the grain stalks] to the earth.
30“He will not escape from darkness.
The flame will dry up his branches.
By a breath from the mouth of [God],
he will go away.
31Let him not rely on futile methods,
thereby deceiving himself;
for what he will receive in exchange
will be only futility.
32This will be accomplished in advance of its day.
His palm frond will not be fresh and green;
33he will be like a vine that sheds its unripe grapes,
like an olive tree that drops its flowers.
34“For the community of the ungodly is sterile;
fire consumes the tents of bribery.
35They conceive trouble and give birth to evil;
their womb prepares deceit.”
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Iyov (Job) 15: CJB
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