1 T hen Eliphaz the Temanite answered,

2 “ Should a wise man answer with vain 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 Y es, you do away with fear, and hinder devotion before God.

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

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

7 “ Are you the first man who was born? Or were you brought out before the hills?

8 H ave you heard the secret counsel of God? Do you limit wisdom to yourself?

9 W hat do you know, that we don’t know? What do you understand, which is not in us?

10 W ith us are both the gray-headed and the very aged men, much elder than your father.

11 A re the consolations of God too small for you, even the word that is gentle toward you?

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

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

14 W hat is man, that he should be clean? What is he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?

15 B ehold, he puts no trust in his holy ones. Yes, the heavens are not clean in his sight;

16 h ow much less one who is abominable and corrupt, a man who drinks iniquity like water!

17 “ I will show you, listen to me; that which I have seen I will declare:

18 ( Which wise men have told by their fathers, and have not hidden it;

19 t o whom alone the land was given, and no stranger passed among them):

20 t he wicked man writhes in pain all his days, even the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor.

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

22 H e doesn’t believe that he shall return out of darkness. He is waited for by the sword.

23 H e wanders abroad for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’ He knows 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 to the battle.

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

26 h e runs at him with a stiff neck, with the thick shields of his bucklers;

27 b ecause he has covered his face with his fatness, and gathered fat on his thighs.

28 H e has lived in desolate cities, in houses which no one inhabited, which were ready to become heaps.

29 H e shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall their possessions be extended on the earth.

30 H e shall not depart out of darkness. The flame shall dry up his branches. By the breath of God’s mouth shall he go away.

31 L et him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself; for emptiness shall be his reward.

32 I t shall be accomplished before his time. His branch shall not be green.

33 H e shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive tree.

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

35 T hey conceive mischief, and produce iniquity. Their heart prepares deceit.”