1 T hen Eliphaz the Temanite answered,

2 S hould a wise man utter such windy knowledge and fill himself with the east wind ?

3 S hould he reason with unprofitable talk? Or with speeches with which he can do no good?

4 I ndeed, you are doing away with fear, and you are hindering and diminishing meditation and devotion before God.

5 F or your iniquity teaches your mouth, and you choose the tongue of the crafty.

6 Y our own mouth condemns you, and not I; yes, your own lips testify against you.

7 A re you the first man that was born ? Or were you created before the hills?

8 W ere you present to hear the secret counsel of God? And do you limit wisdom to yourself?

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

10 A mong us are both the gray-haired and the aged, older than your father by far.

11 A re God’s consolations too trivial for you? Is there any secret thing (any bosom sin) which you have not given up? were we too gentle toward you to be effective?

12 W hy does your heart carry you away ? And why do your eyes flash,

13 T hat you turn your spirit against God and let words go out of your mouth?

14 W hat is man, that he could be pure and clean? And he who is born of a woman, that he could be right and just?

15 B ehold, puts no trust in His holy ones; indeed, the heavens are not clean in His sight—

16 H ow much less that which is abominable and corrupt, a man who drinks iniquity like water?

17 I will show you, hear me; and that which I have seen I will relate,

18 W hat wise men have not hid but have freely communicated; it was told to them by their fathers,

19 U nto whom alone the land was given, and no stranger intruded or passed among them.

20 T he wicked man suffers with torment all his days, through all the years that are numbered and laid up for him, the oppressor.

21 A sound of terrors is in his ears; in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him.

22 H e believes that he will not return out of darkness, and he is waited for by the sword.

23 H e wanders abroad for food, saying, Where is it? He knows that the day of darkness and destruction is already close upon him.

24 D istress and anguish terrify him; they shall prevail against him, like a king ready for battle.

25 B ecause he has stretched out his hand against God and bids defiance and behaves himself proudly against the Almighty,

26 R unning stubbornly against Him with a thickly ornamented shield;

27 B ecause he has covered his face with his fat, adding layers of fat on his loins,

28 A nd has lived in desolate cities and in houses which no man should inhabit, which were destined to become heaps;

29 H e shall not be rich, neither shall his wealth last, neither shall his produce bend to the earth nor his possessions be extended on the earth.

30 H e shall not depart out of darkness shall consume him as flame consumes a dry tree, and by the blast of His mouth he shall be swept away.

31 L et him not deceive himself and trust in vanity (emptiness, falseness, and futility), for these shall be his recompense.

32 I t shall be accomplished and paid in full while he still lives, and his branch shall not be green.

33 H e shall fail to bring his grapes to maturity on the vine and shall cast off blossoms like the olive tree.

34 F or the company of the godless shall be barren, and fire shall consume the tents of bribery (wrong and injustice).

35 T hey conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity, and their inmost soul hatches deceit.