Eliphaz’s Second Speech

1Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:

2“Does a wise man answer with blustery knowledge,

or fill his belly with the east wind?

3Does he argue with useless talk,

with words that have no value in them?

4But you even break off piety,

and hinder meditation before God.

5Your sin inspires your mouth;

you choose the language of the crafty.

6Your own mouth condemns you, not I;

your own lips testify against you.

7“Were you the first man ever born?

Were you brought forth before the hills?

8Do you listen in on God’s secret council?

Do you limit wisdom to yourself?

9What do you know that we don’t know?

What do you understand that we don’t understand?

10The gray-haired and the aged are on our side,

men far older than your father.

11Are God’s consolations too trivial for you;

or a word spoken in gentleness to you?

12Why has your heart carried you away,

and why do your eyes flash,

13when you turn your rage against God

and allow such words to escape from your mouth?

14What is man that he should be pure,

or one born of woman, that he should be righteous?

15If God places no trust in his holy ones,

if even the heavens are not pure in his eyes,

16how much less man, who is abominable and corrupt,

who drinks in evil like water!

17“I will explain to you;

listen to me,

and what I have seen, I will declare,

18what wise men declare,

hiding nothing,

from the tradition of their ancestors,

19to whom alone the land was given

when no foreigner passed among them.

20All his days the wicked man suffers torment,

throughout the number of the years

that are stored up for the tyrant.

21Terrifying sounds fill his ears;

in a time of peace marauders attack him.

22He does not expect to escape from darkness;

he is marked for the sword;

23he wanders about – food for vultures;

he knows that the day of darkness is at hand.

24Distress and anguish terrify him;

they prevail against him

like a king ready to launch an attack,

25for he stretches out his hand against God,

and vaunts himself against the Almighty,

26defiantly charging against him

with a thick, strong shield!

27Because he covered his face with fat,

and made his hips bulge with fat,

28he lived in ruined towns

and in houses where no one lives,

where they are ready to crumble into heaps.

29He will not grow rich,

and his wealth will not endure,

nor will his possessions spread over the land.

30He will not escape the darkness;

a flame will wither his shoots

and he will depart

by the breath of God’s mouth.

31Let him not trust in what is worthless,

deceiving himself;

for worthlessness will be his reward.

32Before his time he will be paid in full,

and his branches will not flourish.

33Like a vine he will let his sour grapes fall,

and like an olive tree

he will shed his blossoms.

34For the company of the godless is barren,

and fire consumes the tents of those who accept bribes.

35They conceive trouble and bring forth evil;

their belly prepares deception.”