1 A nd Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,

2 S hould a wise man answer with windy knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind,

3 R easoning with unprofitable talk, and with speeches which do no good?

4 Y ea, thou makest piety of none effect, and restrainest meditation before God.

5 F or thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou hast chosen the tongue of the crafty.

6 T hine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I; and thy lips testify against thee.

7 A rt thou the first man that was born? and wast thou brought forth before the hills?

8 H ast thou listened in the secret council of +God? And hast thou absorbed wisdom for thyself?

9 W hat knowest thou that we know not? understandest thou which is not in us?

10 B oth the greyheaded and the aged are with us, older than thy father.

11 A re the consolations of God too small for thee? and the word gently spoken to thee?

12 W hy doth thy heart carry thee away? and why do thine eyes wink?

13 T hat thou turnest thy spirit against God, and lettest words go out of thy mouth?

14 W hat is man, that he should be pure? and he that is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?

15 B ehold, he putteth no trust in his holy ones, and the heavens are not pure in his sight:

16 H ow much less the abominable and corrupt,—man, that drinketh unrighteousness like water!

17 I will shew thee, listen to me; and what I have seen I will declare;

18 W hich wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hidden;

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

20 A ll his days the wicked man is tormented, and numbered years are allotted to the violent.

21 T he sound of terrors is in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer cometh upon him.

22 H e believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is singled out for the sword.

23 H e wandereth abroad for bread,—where may it be? He knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.

24 D istress and anguish make him afraid; they prevail against him, as a king ready for the battle.

25 F or he hath stretched out his hand against God, and strengthened himself against the Almighty:

26 H e runneth against him, with neck, with the thick bosses of his bucklers;

27 F or he hath covered his face with his fatness, and gathered fat upon flanks.

28 A nd he dwelleth in desolate cities, in houses that no man inhabiteth, which are destined to become heaps.

29 H e shall not become rich, neither shall his substance continue, and their possessions shall not extend upon the earth.

30 H e shall not depart out of darkness; the flame shall dry up his branches; and by the breath of his mouth shall he go away.

31 L et him not trust in vanity: he is deceived, for vanity shall be his recompense;

32 I t shall be complete before his day, and his branch shall not be green.

33 H e shall shake off his unripe grapes as a vine, and shall cast his flower as an olive.

34 F or the family of the ungodly shall be barren, and fire shall consume the tents of bribery.

35 T hey conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity, and their belly prepareth deceit.