[1] THEN answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said,
[2] Should a wise man utter vain knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind?
[3] Should he reason with unprofitable talk? or with speeches wherewith he can do no good?
[4] Yea, thou castest off fear, and restrainest prayer before God.
[5] For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.
[6] Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I: yea, thine own lips testify against thee.
[7] Art thou the first man that was born? or wast thou made before the hills?
[8] Hast thou heard the secret of God? and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself?
[9] What knowest thou, that we know not? what understandest thou, which is not in us?
[10] With us are both the grayheaded and very aged men, much elder than thy father.
[11] Are the consolations of God small with thee? is there any secret thing with thee?
[12] Why doth thine heart carry thee away? and what do thy eyes wink at,
[13] That thou turnest thy spirit against God, and lettest such words go out of thy mouth?
[14] What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
[15] Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight.
[16] How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water?
[17] I will shew thee, hear me; and that which I have seen I will declare;
[18] Which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hid it:
[19] Unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them.
[20] The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor.
[21] A dreadful sound is in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him.
[22] He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for of the sword.
[23] He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where is it? he knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.
[24] Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid; they shall prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.
[25] For he stretcheth out his hand against God, and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty.
[26] He runneth upon him, even on his neck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers:
[27] Because he covereth his face with his fatness, and maketh collops of fat on his flanks.
[28] And he dwelleth in desolate cities, and in houses which no man inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps.
[29] He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth.
[30] He 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] Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity: for vanity shall be his recompence.
[32] It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be green.
[33] He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive.
[34] For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery.
[35] They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth deceit.
