Eliphaz: second speech
Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied: Would a wise person answer with empty notions or fill their belly with the hot east wind? Would they argue with useless words, with speeches that have no value? But you even undermine piety and hinder devotion to God. Your sin prompts your mouth; you adopt the tongue of the crafty. Your own mouth condemns you, not mine; your own lips testify against you. Are you the first man ever born? Were you brought forth before the hills? Do you listen in on God's council? Do you have a monopoly on wisdom? What do you know that we do not know? What insights do you have that we do not have? The grey-haired and the aged are on our side, men even older than your father. Are God's consolations not enough for you, words spoken gently to you? Why has your heart carried you away, and why do your eyes flash, so that you vent your rage against God and pour out such words from your mouth? What are mortals, that they could be pure, or those born of woman, that they could be righteous? If God places no trust in his holy ones, if even the heavens are not pure in his eyes, how much less mortals, who are vile and corrupt, who drink up evil like water. Listen to me and I will explain to you; let me tell you what I have seen, what the wise have declared, hiding nothing received from their ancestors (to whom alone the land was given when no foreigners moved among them): All his days the wicked man suffers torment, the ruthless through all the years stored up for him. Terrifying sounds fill his ears; when all seems well, marauders attack him. He despairs of escaping the realm of darkness; he is marked for the sword. He wanders about for food like a vulture; he knows the day of darkness is at hand. Distress and anguish fill him with terror; they overwhelm him, like a king poised to attack, because he shakes his fist at God and vaunts himself against the Almighty, defiantly charging against him with a thick, strong shield. Though his face is covered with fat and his waist bulges with flesh, he will inhabit ruined towns and houses where no one lives, houses crumbling to rubble. He will no longer be rich and his wealth will not endure, nor will his possessions spread over the land. He will not escape the darkness; a flame will wither his shoots, and the breath of God's mouth will carry him away. Let him not deceive himself by trusting what is worthless, for he will get nothing in return. Before his time he will wither, and his branches will not flourish. He will be like a vine stripped of its unripe grapes, like an olive tree shedding its blossoms. For the company of the godless will be barren, and fire will consume the tents of those who love bribes. They conceive trouble and give birth to evil; their womb fashions deceit.
Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:
Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said,
Would a wise person answer with empty notions
or fill their belly with the hot east wind?
Should a wise man utter vain knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind?
Would they argue with useless words,
with speeches that have no value?
Should he reason with unprofitable talk? or with speeches wherewith he can do no good?
But you even undermine piety
and hinder devotion to God.
Yea, thou castest off fear, and restrainest prayer before God.
Your sin prompts your mouth;
you adopt the tongue of the crafty.
For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.
Your own mouth condemns you, not mine;
your own lips testify against you.
Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I: yea, thine own lips testify against thee.
Are you the first man ever born?
Were you brought forth before the hills?
Art thou the first man that was born? or wast thou made before the hills?
Do you listen in on God's council?
Do you have a monopoly on wisdom?
Hast thou heard the secret of God? and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself?
What do you know that we do not know?
What insights do you have that we do not have?
What knowest thou, that we know not? what understandest thou, which is not in us?
The grey-haired and the aged are on our side,
men even older than your father.
With us are both the grayheaded and very aged men, much elder than thy father.
Are God's consolations not enough for you,
words spoken gently to you?
Are the consolations of God small with thee? is there any secret thing with thee?
Why has your heart carried you away,
and why do your eyes flash,
Why doth thine heart carry thee away? and what do thy eyes wink at,
so that you vent your rage against God
and pour out such words from your mouth?
That thou turnest thy spirit against God, and lettest such words go out of thy mouth?
What are mortals, that they could be pure,
or those born of woman, that they could be righteous?
What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
If God places no trust in his holy ones,
if even the heavens are not pure in his eyes,
Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight.
how much less mortals, who are vile and corrupt,
who drink up evil like water.
How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water?
Listen to me and I will explain to you;
let me tell you what I have seen,
I will shew thee, hear me; and that which I have seen I will declare;
what the wise have declared,
hiding nothing received from their ancestors
Which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hid it:
(to whom alone the land was given
when no foreigners moved among them):
Unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them.
All his days the wicked man suffers torment,
the ruthless through all the years stored up for him.
The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor.
Terrifying sounds fill his ears;
when all seems well, marauders attack him.
A dreadful sound is in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him.
He despairs of escaping the realm of darkness;
he is marked for the sword.
He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for of the sword.
He wanders about for food like a vulture;
he knows the day of darkness is at hand.
He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where is it? he knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.
Distress and anguish fill him with terror;
they overwhelm him, like a king poised to attack,
Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid; they shall prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.
because he shakes his fist at God
and vaunts himself against the Almighty,
For he stretcheth out his hand against God, and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty.
defiantly charging against him
with a thick, strong shield.
He runneth upon him, even on his neck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers:
Though his face is covered with fat
and his waist bulges with flesh,
Because he covereth his face with his fatness, and maketh collops of fat on his flanks.
he will inhabit ruined towns
and houses where no one lives,
houses crumbling to rubble.
And he dwelleth in desolate cities, and in houses which no man inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps.
He will no longer be rich and his wealth will not endure,
nor will his possessions spread over the land.
He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth.
He will not escape the darkness;
a flame will wither his shoots,
and the breath of God's mouth will carry him away.
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.
Let him not deceive himself by trusting what is worthless,
for he will get nothing in return.
Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity: for vanity shall be his recompence.
Before his time he will wither,
and his branches will not flourish.
It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be green.
He will be like a vine stripped of its unripe grapes,
like an olive tree shedding its blossoms.
He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive.
For the company of the godless will be barren,
and fire will consume the tents of those who love bribes.
For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery.
They conceive trouble and give birth to evil;
their womb fashions deceit.
They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth deceit.