| 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 forth 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 elder 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? 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 From 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 travails 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 on him. |
| 22 | He doesn't believe that he shall 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 loins. |
| 28 | He has lived in desolate cities, In houses which no one 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, By the breath of God's mouth shall he go away. |
| 31 | Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself; For emptiness shall be his reward. |
| 32 | It shall be accomplished before his time. 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. Their heart prepares deceit.' |