Job 15:1-17:16

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!

17“Listen to me and I will explain to you; let me tell you what I have seen,

18what the wise have declared, hiding nothing received from their ancestors

19(to whom alone the land was given when no foreigners moved among them):

20All his days the wicked man suffers torment, the ruthless man through all the years stored up for him.

21Terrifying sounds fill his ears; when all seems well, marauders attack him.

22He despairs of escaping the realm of darkness; he is marked for the sword.

23He wanders about for food like a vulture; he knows the day of darkness is at hand.

24Distress and anguish fill him with terror; troubles overwhelm him, like a king poised to attack,

25because he shakes his fist at God and vaunts himself against the Almighty,

26defiantly charging against him with a thick, strong shield.

27“Though his face is covered with fat and his waist bulges with flesh,

28he will inhabit ruined towns and houses where no one lives, houses crumbling to rubble.

29He will no longer be rich and his wealth will not endure, nor will his possessions spread over the land.

30He will not escape the darkness; a flame will wither his shoots, and the breath of God’s mouth will carry him away.

31Let him not deceive himself by trusting what is worthless, for he will get nothing in return.

32Before his time he will wither, and his branches will not flourish.

33He will be like a vine stripped of its unripe grapes, like an olive tree shedding its blossoms.

34For the company of the godless will be barren, and fire will consume the tents of those who love bribes. 35They conceive trouble and give birth to evil; their womb fashions deceit.”

Job 1Then Job replied:

2“I have heard many things like these; you are miserable comforters, all of you!

3Will your long-winded speeches never end? What ails you that you keep on arguing?

4I also could speak like you, if you were in my place; I could make fine speeches against you and shake my head at you.

5But my mouth would encourage you; comfort from my lips would bring you relief.

6“Yet if I speak, my pain is not relieved; and if I refrain, it does not go away.

7Surely, God, you have worn me out; you have devastated my entire household.

8You have shriveled me up—and it has become a witness; my gauntness rises up and testifies against me.

9God assails me and tears me in his anger and gnashes his teeth at me; my opponent fastens on me his piercing eyes.

10People open their mouths to jeer at me; they strike my cheek in scorn and unite together against me.

11God has turned me over to the ungodly and thrown me into the clutches of the wicked.

12All was well with me, but he shattered me; he seized me by the neck and crushed me. He has made me his target;

13his archers surround me. Without pity, he pierces my kidneys and spills my gall on the ground.

14Again and again he bursts upon me; he rushes at me like a warrior.

15“I have sewed sackcloth over my skin and buried my brow in the dust.

16My face is red with weeping, dark shadows ring my eyes;

17yet my hands have been free of violence and my prayer is pure.

18“Earth, do not cover my blood; may my cry never be laid to rest!

19Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high.

20My intercessor is my friend Or My friends treat me with scorn as my eyes pour out tears to God;

21on behalf of a man he pleads with God as one pleads for a friend. 22“Only a few years will pass before I take the path of no return.

1My spirit is broken, my days are cut short, the grave awaits me.

2Surely mockers surround me; my eyes must dwell on their hostility.

3“Give me, O God, the pledge you demand. Who else will put up security for me?

4You have closed their minds to understanding; therefore you will not let them triumph.

5If anyone denounces their friends for reward, the eyes of their children will fail.

6“God has made me a byword to everyone, a man in whose face people spit.

7My eyes have grown dim with grief; my whole frame is but a shadow.

8The upright are appalled at this; the innocent are aroused against the ungodly.

9Nevertheless, the righteous will hold to their ways, and those with clean hands will grow stronger.

10“But come on, all of you, try again! I will not find a wise man among you.

11My days have passed, my plans are shattered. Yet the desires of my heart

12turn night into day; in the face of the darkness light is near.

13If the only home I hope for is the grave, if I spread out my bed in the realm of darkness,

14if I say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother’ or ‘My sister,’

15where then is my hope— who can see any hope for me? 16Will it go down to the gates of death? Will we descend together into the dust?”