1. Eliphaz’s Argument

ch15 ¹Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said, ²Should a wise man utter vain knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind? ³Should he reason with unprofitable talk? or with speeches wherewith he can do no good? ⁴Yea, thou castest off fear, and restrainest prayer before God. ⁵For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty. ⁶Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I: yea, thine own lips testify against thee.

⁷Art] thou the first man [that] was born? or wast thou made before the hills? ⁸Hast thou heard the secret of God? and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself? ⁹What knowest thou, that we know not? [what] understandest thou, which [is] not in us? ¹⁰With us [are] both the grayheaded and very aged men, much elder than thy father. ¹¹Are] the consolations of God small with thee? is there any secret thing with thee? ¹²Why doth thine heart carry thee away? and what do thy eyes wink at, ¹³That thou turnest thy spirit against God, and lettest [such] words go out of thy mouth? ¹⁴What [is] man, that he should be clean? and [he which is] born of a woman, that he should be righteous? ¹⁵Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight. ¹⁶How much more abominable and filthy [is] man, which drinketh iniquity like water?

¹⁷I will shew thee, hear me; and that [which] I have seen I will declare; ¹⁸Which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hid [it]: ¹⁹Unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them. ²⁰The wicked man travaileth with pain all [his] days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor. ²¹A dreadful sound [is] in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him. ²²He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for of the sword. ²³He wandereth abroad for bread, [saying], Where [is it]? he knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand. ²⁴Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid; they shall prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle. ²⁵For he stretcheth out his hand against God, and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty. ²⁶He runneth upon him, [even] on [his] neck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers: ²⁷Because he covereth his face with his fatness, and maketh collops of fat on [his] flanks. ²⁸And he dwelleth in desolate cities, [and] in houses which no man inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps. ²⁹He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth. ³⁰He shall not depart out of darkness; the flame shall dry up his branches, and by the breath of his mouth shall he go away. ³¹Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity: for vanity shall be his recompence. ³²It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be green. ³³He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive. ³⁴For the congregation of hypocrites [shall be] desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery. ³⁵They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth deceit.

ch16 ¹Then Job answered and said, ²I have heard many such things: miserable comforters [are] ye all. ³Shall vain words have an end? or what emboldeneth thee that thou answerest? ⁴I also could speak as ye [do]: if your soul were in my soul's stead, I could heap up words against you, and shake mine head at you. ⁵But] I would strengthen you with my mouth, and the moving of my lips should asswage [your grief].

⁶Though I speak, my grief is not asswaged: and [though] I forbear, what am I eased? ⁷But now he hath made me weary: thou hast made desolate all my company. ⁸And thou hast filled me with wrinkles, [which] is a witness [against me]: and my leanness rising up in me beareth witness to my face. ⁹He teareth [me] in his wrath, who hateth me: he gnasheth upon me with his teeth; mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me. ¹⁰They have gaped upon me with their mouth; they have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully; they have gathered themselves together against me. ¹¹God hath delivered me to the ungodly, and turned me over into the hands of the wicked. ¹²I was at ease, but he hath broken me asunder: he hath also taken [me] by my neck, and shaken me to pieces, and set me up for his mark. ¹³His archers compass me round about, he cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare; he poureth out my gall upon the ground. ¹⁴He breaketh me with breach upon breach, he runneth upon me like a giant. ¹⁵I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, and defiled my horn in the dust. ¹⁶My face is foul with weeping, and on my eyelids [is] the shadow of death; ¹⁷Not for [any] injustice in mine hands: also my prayer [is] pure.

¹⁸O earth, cover not thou my blood, and let my cry have no place. ¹⁹Also now, behold, my witness [is] in heaven, and my record [is] on high. ²⁰My friends scorn me: [but] mine eye poureth out [tears] unto God. ²¹O that one might plead for a man with God, as a man [pleadeth] for his neighbour! ²²When a few years are come, then I shall go the way [whence] I shall not return.

ch17 ¹My breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, the graves [are ready] for me. ²Are there] not mockers with me? and doth not mine eye continue in their provocation?

³Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee; who [is] he [that] will strike hands with me? ⁴For thou hast hid their heart from understanding: therefore shalt thou not exalt [them]. ⁵He that speaketh flattery to [his] friends, even the eyes of his children shall fail.

⁶He hath made me also a byword of the people; and aforetime I was as a tabret. ⁷Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members [are] as a shadow. ⁸Upright [men] shall be astonied at this, and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite. ⁹The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger. ¹⁰But as for you all, do ye return, and come now: for I cannot find [one] wise [man] among you. ¹¹My days are past, my purposes are broken off, [even] the thoughts of my heart. ¹²They change the night into day: the light [is] short because of darkness. ¹³If I wait, the grave [is] mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness. ¹⁴I have said to corruption, Thou [art] my father: to the worm, [Thou art] my mother, and my sister. ¹⁵And where [is] now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it? ¹⁶They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when [our] rest together [is] in the dust.