Job 15 – read and compare multiple versions
Job 15
[1] Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered,
[2] “Should a wise man answer with vain knowledge,
and fill himself with the east wind?
[3] Should he reason with unprofitable talk,
or with speeches with which he can do no good?
[4] Yes, you do away with fear,
and hinder devotion before God.
[5] For your iniquity teaches your mouth,
and you choose the language of the crafty.
[6] Your own mouth condemns you, and not I.
Yes, your own lips testify against you. [7] “Are you the first man who was born?
Or were you brought out before the hills?
[8] Have you heard the secret counsel of God?
Do you limit wisdom to yourself?
[9] What do you know that we don’t know?
What do you understand which is not in us?
[10] With us are both the gray-headed and the very aged men,
much older than your father.
[11] Are the consolations of God too small for you,
even the word that is gentle toward you?
[12] Why does your heart carry you away?
Why do your eyes flash,
[13] that you turn your spirit against God,
and let such words go out of your mouth?
[14] What is man, that he should be clean?
What is he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
[15] Behold, he puts no trust in his holy ones.
Yes, the heavens are not clean in his sight;
[16] how much less one who is abominable and corrupt,
a man who drinks iniquity like water! [17] “I will show you, listen to me;
that which I have seen I will declare
[18] (which wise men have told by their fathers,
and have not hidden it;
[19] to whom alone the land was given,
and no stranger passed among them):
[20] the wicked man writhes in 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 will come on him.
[22] He doesn’t believe that he will return out of darkness.
He is waited for by the sword.
[23] He wanders abroad for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’
He knows 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 has stretched out his hand against God,
and behaves himself proudly against the Almighty,
[26] he runs at him with a stiff neck,
with the thick shields of his bucklers,
[27] because he has covered his face with his fatness,
and gathered fat on his thighs.
[28] He has lived in desolate cities,
in houses which no one inhabited,
which were ready to become heaps.
[29] He will not be rich, neither will his substance continue,
neither will their possessions be extended on the earth.
[30] He will not depart out of darkness.
The flame will dry up his branches.
He will go away by the breath of God’s mouth.
[31] Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself,
for emptiness will be his reward.
[32] It will be accomplished before his time.
His branch will not be green.
[33] He will shake off his unripe grape as the vine,
and will cast off his flower as the olive tree.
[34] For the company of the godless will be barren,
and fire will consume the tents of bribery.
[35] They conceive mischief and produce iniquity.
Their heart prepares deceit.”
[2] “Should a wise man answer with vain knowledge,
and fill himself with the east wind?
[3] Should he reason with unprofitable talk,
or with speeches with which he can do no good?
[4] Yes, you do away with fear,
and hinder devotion before God.
[5] For your iniquity teaches your mouth,
and you choose the language of the crafty.
[6] Your own mouth condemns you, and not I.
Yes, your own lips testify against you. [7] “Are you the first man who was born?
Or were you brought out before the hills?
[8] Have you heard the secret counsel of God?
Do you limit wisdom to yourself?
[9] What do you know that we don’t know?
What do you understand which is not in us?
[10] With us are both the gray-headed and the very aged men,
much older than your father.
[11] Are the consolations of God too small for you,
even the word that is gentle toward you?
[12] Why does your heart carry you away?
Why do your eyes flash,
[13] that you turn your spirit against God,
and let such words go out of your mouth?
[14] What is man, that he should be clean?
What is he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
[15] Behold, he puts no trust in his holy ones.
Yes, the heavens are not clean in his sight;
[16] how much less one who is abominable and corrupt,
a man who drinks iniquity like water! [17] “I will show you, listen to me;
that which I have seen I will declare
[18] (which wise men have told by their fathers,
and have not hidden it;
[19] to whom alone the land was given,
and no stranger passed among them):
[20] the wicked man writhes in 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 will come on him.
[22] He doesn’t believe that he will return out of darkness.
He is waited for by the sword.
[23] He wanders abroad for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’
He knows 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 has stretched out his hand against God,
and behaves himself proudly against the Almighty,
[26] he runs at him with a stiff neck,
with the thick shields of his bucklers,
[27] because he has covered his face with his fatness,
and gathered fat on his thighs.
[28] He has lived in desolate cities,
in houses which no one inhabited,
which were ready to become heaps.
[29] He will not be rich, neither will his substance continue,
neither will their possessions be extended on the earth.
[30] He will not depart out of darkness.
The flame will dry up his branches.
He will go away by the breath of God’s mouth.
[31] Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself,
for emptiness will be his reward.
[32] It will be accomplished before his time.
His branch will not be green.
[33] He will shake off his unripe grape as the vine,
and will cast off his flower as the olive tree.
[34] For the company of the godless will be barren,
and fire will consume the tents of bribery.
[35] They conceive mischief and produce iniquity.
Their heart prepares deceit.”