1 T hen Eliphaz the Temanite answered,

And Eliphaz the Temanite answereth and saith: --

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

Doth a wise man answer vain knowledge? And fill an east wind his belly?

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

To reason with a word not useful? And speeches -- no profit in them?

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

Yea, thou dost make reverence void, And dost diminish meditation before God.

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

For thy mouth teacheth thine iniquity, And thou chooseth the tongue of the subtile.

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

Thy mouth declareth thee wicked, and not I, And thy lips testify against thee.

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

The first man art thou born? And before the heights wast thou formed?

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

Of the secret counsel of God dost thou hear? And withdrawest thou unto thee wisdom?

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

What hast thou known, and we know not? Understandest thou -- and it is not with us?

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

Both the gray-headed And the very aged among us -- Greater than thy father days.

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?

Too few for thee are the comforts of God? And a gentle word with thee,

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

What -- doth thine heart take thee away? And what -- are thine eyes high?

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

For thou turnest against God thy spirit? And hast brought out words from thy 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?

What man that he is pure, And that he is righteous, one born of woman?

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

Lo, in His holy ones He putteth no credence, And the heavens have not been pure in His eyes.

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

Also -- surely abominable and filthy Is man drinking as water perverseness.

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

I shew thee -- hearken to me -- And this I have seen and declare:

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

Which the wise declare -- And have not hid -- from their fathers.

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

To them alone was the land given, And a stranger passed not over into their midst:

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.

`All days of the wicked he is paining himself, And few years have been laid up for the terrible one.

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

A fearful voice in his ears, In peace doth a destroyer come to him.

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

He believeth not to return from darkness, And watched he for 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.

He is wandering for bread -- `Where it?' He hath known that ready at his hand Is a day of darkness.

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

Terrify him do adversity and distress, They prevail over him As a king ready for a boaster.

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

For he stretched out against God his hand, And against the Mighty he maketh himself mighty.

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

He runneth unto Him with a neck, With thick bosses of his shields.

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

For he hath covered his face with his fat, And maketh vigour over confidence.

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

And he inhabiteth cities cut off, houses not dwelt in, That have been ready 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.

He is not rich, nor doth his wealth rise, Nor doth he stretch out on earth their continuance.

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.

He turneth not aside from darkness, His tender branch doth a flame dry up, And he turneth aside at the breath of His mouth!

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

Let him not put credence in vanity, He hath been deceived, For vanity is his recompence.

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

Not in his day is it completed, And his bending branch is not green.

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

He shaketh off as a vine his unripe fruit, And casteth off as an olive his blossom.

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

For the company of the profane gloomy, And fire hath consumed tents of bribery.

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

To conceive misery, and to bear iniquity, Even their heart doth prepare deceit.