15:1 Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said,
15:2 Should a wise man make answer with vain knowledge, And fill himself with the east wind?
15:3 Should he reason with unprofitable talk, Or with speeches wherewith he can do no good?
15:4 Yea, thou doest away with fear, And hinderest devotion before God.
15:5 For thine iniquity teacheth thy mouth, And thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.
15:6 Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I; Yea, thine own lips testify against thee.
15:7 Art thou the first man that was born? Or wast thou brought forth before the hills?
15:8 Hast thou heard the secret counsel of God? And dost thou limit wisdom to thyself?
15:9 What knowest thou, that we know not? What understandest thou, which is not in us?
15:10 With us are both the grayheaded and the very aged men, Much elder than thy father.
15:11 Are the consolations of God too small for thee, Even the word that is gentle toward thee?
15:12 Why doth thy heart carry thee away? And why do thine eyes flash,
15:13 That against God thou turnest thy spirit, And lettest words go out of thy mouth?
15:14 What is man, that he should be clean? And he that is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
15:15 Behold, he putteth no trust in his holy ones; Yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight:
15:16 How much less one that is abominable and corrupt, A man that drinketh iniquity like water!
15:17 I will show thee, hear thou me; And that which I have seen I will declare
15:18 (Which wise men have told From their fathers, and have not hid it;
15:19 Unto whom alone the land was given, And no stranger passed among them):
15:20 The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, Even the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor.
15:21 A sound of terrors is in his ears; In prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him.
15:22 He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, And he is waited for of the sword.
15:23 He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where is it? He knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.
15:24 Distress and anguish make him afraid; They prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.
15:25 Because he hath stretched out his hand against God, And behaveth himself proudly against the Almighty;
15:26 He runneth upon him with a stiff neck, With the thick bosses of his bucklers;
15:27 Because he hath covered his face with his fatness, And gathered fat upon his loins;
15:28 And he hath dwelt in desolate cities, In houses which no man inhabited, Which were ready to become heaps;
15:29 He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, Neither shall their possessions be extended on the earth.
15:30 He shall not depart out of darkness; The flame shall dry up his branches, And by the breath of God’s mouth shall he go away.
15:31 Let him not trust in vanity, deceiving himself; For vanity shall be his recompense.
15:32 It shall be accomplished before his time, And his branch shall not be green.
15:33 He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, And shall cast off his flower as the olive-tree.
15:34 For the company of the godless shall be barren, And fire shall consume the tents of bribery.
15:35 They conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity, And their heart prepareth deceit.