Job 15 - 16 — Legacy Standard Bible

Eliphaz Says Job’s Lips Answer Against Him

15Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,

²“Should a wise man answer with windy knowledge^aAnd fill his belly with the east wind?³“Should he argue with a word that cannot be used,Or with speech which is not profitable?⁴“Indeed, you annul reverent fearAnd cut off musing before God.⁵“For ^ayour iniquity teaches your mouth,And you choose the tongue of ^bthe crafty.⁶“Your ^aown mouth condemns you, and not I;And your own lips answer against you.⁷“Were you the first man to be born,Or ^awere you brought forth before the hills?⁸“Do you hear the ^asecret counsel of God,And cut down wisdom only unto yourself?⁹“^aWhat do you know that we do not know?What do you understand that is not with us?¹⁰“Both the ^agray-haired and the aged are among us,Older than your father.¹¹“Are ^athe consolations of God too small for you,Even the ^bword spoken gently with you?¹²“Why does your ^aheart take you away?And why do your eyes flash,¹³That you should turn your spirit against GodAnd allow such words to go out of your mouth?¹⁴“What is man, that ^ahe should be pure,Or ^bhe who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?¹⁵“Behold, He puts no faith in His ^aholy ones,And the ^bheavens are not pure in His sight;¹⁶How much less one who is ^aabominable and corrupt,Man, who ^bdrinks ¹unrighteousness like water!¹⁷“I will tell you, listen to me;And what I have beheld I will also recount;¹⁸What wise men have told,And have not concealed from ^atheir fathers,¹⁹To whom alone the land was given,And no stranger passed among them.²⁰“The wicked man writhes ^ain pain all his days,And ¹numbered are the years ^bstored up for the ruthless.²¹“¹Sounds of ^adread are in his ears;^bWhile at peace the destroyer comes upon him.²²“He does not believe that he will ^areturn from darkness,And he is destined for ^bthe sword.²³“He wanders about for food, saying, ‘Where is it?’He knows that a day of ^adarkness is ready at his hand.²⁴“Distress and anguish terrify him;They overpower him like a king ready for the attack,²⁵Because he has stretched out his hand against GodAnd ^amagnifies himself against ¹the Almighty.²⁶“He rushes ¹headlong at HimWith ²his massive shield.²⁷“For he has ^acovered his face with his fatAnd made his thighs heavy with flesh.²⁸“He has ^adwelt in desolate cities,In houses no one would inhabit,Which are destined to become ¹ruins.²⁹“He ^awill not become rich, nor will his wealth endure;And his grain will not stretch out over the land.³⁰“He will ^anot be able to ¹depart from darkness;The ^bflame will wither his shoots,And by ^cthe breath of His mouth he will depart.³¹“Let him not ^abelieve in emptiness, deceiving himself;For emptiness will be his ¹reward,³²When ^ahis days are not yet fulfilled,And his palm ^bbranch is not green.³³“He will drop off his unripe grape like the vine,And will ^acast off his flower like the olive tree.³⁴“For the company of ^athe godless is barren,And fire consumes ^bthe tents of ¹the corrupt.³⁵“They ^aconceive ¹trouble and give birth to wickedness,And their ²belly prepares deception.”

Troublesome Comforters

16Then Job answered and said,

²“I have heard many such things;¹^,^aTroublesome comforters are you all.³“Is there no end to ^awindy words?Or what pains you that you answer?⁴“I too could speak like you,If your soul were in the place of my soul.I could compose words against youAnd ^ashake my head at you.⁵“I could encourage you with my mouth,And the solace of my lips could lessen your pain.⁶“If I speak, ^amy pain is not lessened,And if I cease, what will go forth from me?⁷“But now He has ^aexhausted me;You have made ^bdesolate all my company.⁸“You have shriveled me up,^aIt has become a witness;And my ^bleanness rises up against me,It answers to my face.⁹“His anger has ^atorn me and ¹hunted me down;He has ^bgnashed at me with His teeth;My ^cadversary sharpens his eyes to look at me.¹⁰“They have ^aopened their mouth wide at me;They have ^bstruck me on the cheek in reproach;They have ^cmassed themselves against me.¹¹“God hands me over to ruffiansAnd tosses me into the hands of the wicked.¹²“I was at ease, but ^aHe shattered me,And He has grasped me by the neck and shaken me to pieces;He has also set me up as His ^btarget.¹³“His ^aarrows surround me.Without mercy He splits my kidneys open;He pours out ^bmy gall on the ground.¹⁴“He ^abreaks through me with breach after breach;He ^bruns at me like a warrior.¹⁵“I have sewed ^asackcloth over my skinAnd ^bthrust my horn in the dust.¹⁶“My face is flushed from ^aweeping,^bAnd the shadow of death is on my eyelids,¹⁷Why?—because there is no ^aviolence in my hands,And ^bmy prayer is pure.¹⁸“O earth, do not cover my blood,And let there be no resting place for my cry.¹⁹“Even now, behold, ^amy witness is in heaven,And my ¹advocate is ^bon high.²⁰“My friends are my scoffers;^aMy eye ¹weeps to God.²¹“O that a man might argue with GodAs a son of man with his neighbor!²²“For when a few years are past,I shall go the way ^aof no return.