[1] Then Eli'phaz the Te'manite answered: [2] "Should a wise man answer
with windy knowledge, and fill himself with the east wind? [3] Should he
argue in unprofitable talk, or in words with which he can do no good? [4]
But you are doing away with the fear of God, and hindering meditation
before God. [5] For your iniquity teaches your mouth, and you choose the
tongue of the crafty. [6] Your own mouth condemns you, and not I; your own
lips testify against you. [7] "Are you the first man that was born? Or were
you brought forth before the hills? [8] Have you listened in the council of
God? And do you limit wisdom to yourself+? [9] What do you know that we do
not know? What do you understand that is not clear to us? [10] Both the
gray-haired and the aged are among us, older than your father. [11] Are the
consolations of God too small for you, or the word that deals gently with
you? [12] Why does your heart carry you away, and why do your eyes flash,
[13] that you turn your spirit against God, and let such words go out of
your mouth? [14] What is man, that he can be clean? Or he that is born of a
woman, that he can be righteous? [15] Behold, God puts no trust in his holy
ones, and the heavens are not clean in his sight; [16] how much less one
who is abominable and corrupt, a man who drinks iniquity like water! [17]
"I will show you, hear me; and what I have seen I will declare [18] (what
wise men have told, and their fathers have not hidden, [19] to whom alone
the land was given, and no stranger passed among them). [20] The wicked man
writhes in pain all his days, through all the years that are laid up for
the ruthless. [21] Terrifying sounds are in his ears; in prosperity the
destroyer will come upon him. [22] He does not believe that he will return
out of darkness, and he is destined for the sword. [23] He wanders abroad
for bread, saying, ` wanders abroad for bread, saying, "Where is it?' He
knows that a day of darkness is ready at his hand; [24] distress and
anguish terrify him; they prevail against him, like a king prepared for
battle. [25] Because he has stretched forth his hand against God, and bids
defiance to the Almighty, [26] running stubbornly against him with a
thick-bossed shield; [27] because he has covered his face with his fat, and
gathered fat upon his loins, [28] and has lived in desolate cities, in
houses which no man should inhabit, which were destined to become heaps of
ruins; [29] he will not be rich, and his wealth will not endure, nor will
he strike root in the earth; [30] he will not escape from darkness; the
flame will dry up his shoots, and his blossom will be swept away by the
wind. [31] Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself; for emptiness
will be his recompense. [32] It will be paid in full before his time, and
his branch will not be green. [33] He will shake off his unripe grape, like
the vine, and cast off his blossom, like the olive tree. [34] For the
company of the godless is barren, and fire consumes the tents of bribery.
[35] They conceive mischief and bring forth evil and their heart prepares
deceit."