Job 15:1-16

Eliphaz 1Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:

2“Would a wise person answer with empty notions or fill their belly with the hot east wind?

3Would they argue with useless words, with speeches that have no value?

4But you even undermine piety and hinder devotion to God.

5Your sin prompts your mouth; you adopt the tongue of the crafty.

6Your own mouth condemns you, not mine; your own lips testify against you.

7“Are you the first man ever born? Were you brought forth before the hills?

8Do you listen in on God’s council? Do you have a monopoly on wisdom?

9What do you know that we do not know? What insights do you have that we do not have?

10The gray-haired and the aged are on our side, men even older than your father.

11Are God’s consolations not enough for you, words spoken gently to you?

12Why has your heart carried you away, and why do your eyes flash,

13so that you vent your rage against God and pour out such words from your mouth?

14“What are mortals, that they could be pure, or those born of woman, that they could be righteous?

15If God places no trust in his holy ones, if even the heavens are not pure in his eyes,

16how much less mortals, who are vile and corrupt, who drink up evil like water!