[1] Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said,
[2] Should a wise man make answer with vain knowledge, And fill himself with the east wind?
[3] Should he reason with unprofitable talk, Or with speeches wherewith he can do no good?
[4] Yea, thou doest away with fear, And hinderest devotion before God.
[5] For thine iniquity teacheth thy mouth, 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 brought forth before the hills?
[8] Hast thou heard the secret counsel of God? And dost thou limit 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 gray-headed and the very aged men, Much elder than thy father.
[11] Are the consolations of God too small for thee, Even the word that is gentle toward thee?
[12] Why doth thy heart carry thee away? And why do thine eyes flash,
[13] That against God thou turnest thy spirit, And lettest words go out of thy mouth?
[14] What is man, that he should be clean? And he that is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
[15] Behold, he putteth no trust in his holy ones; Yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight:
[16] How much less one that is abominable and corrupt, A man that drinketh iniquity like water!
[17] I will show thee, hear thou 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 land was given, And no stranger passed among them):
[20] The wicked man travaileth with 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 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] Distress and anguish make him afraid; They prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.
[25] Because he hath stretched out his hand against God, And behaveth himself proudly against the Almighty;
[26] He runneth upon him with astiffneck, With the thick bosses of his bucklers;
[27] Because he hath covered his face with his fatness, And gathered fat upon his loins;
[28] And he hath dwelt in desolate cities, In houses which no man inhabited, Which were ready to become heaps;
[29] He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, Neither shall their possessions be extended on the earth.
[30] He shall not depart out of darkness; The flame shall dry up his branches, And by the breath ofGod’smouth shall he go away.
[31] Let him not trust in vanity, deceiving himself; For vanity shall be his recompense.
[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-tree.
[34] For the company of the godless shall be barren, And fire shall consume the tents of bribery.
[35] They conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity, And their heart prepareth deceit.
