| Chapter 15
|
| 1 | Then answered
Eliphaz the Temanite, and said, |
| 2
| Should a wise man utter vain knowledge, and fill his belly with the
east wind? |
| 3 | Should he
reason with unprofitable talk? or with speeches wherewith he can do no
good? |
| 4 | Yea, thou castest
off fear, and restrainest prayer before God. |
| 5 | For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou choosest
the tongue of the crafty. |
| 6 |
Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I: yea, thine own lips testify
against thee. |
| 7 | Art thou
the first man that was born? or wast thou made before the hills? |
| 8 | Hast thou heard the secret of God?
and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself? |
| 9 | What knowest thou, that we know not? what understandest
thou, which is not in us? |
| 10 |
With us are both the grayheaded and very aged men, much elder than thy
father. |
| 11 | Are the
consolations of God small with thee? is there any secret thing with thee? |
| 12 | Why doth thine heart
carry thee away? and what do thy eyes wink at, |
|
13 | That thou turnest thy spirit against God, and
lettest such words go out of thy mouth? |
| 14 | What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is
born of a woman, that he should be righteous? |
| 15 | Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the
heavens are not clean in his sight. |
|
16 | How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh
iniquity like water? |
| 17 |
I will shew thee, hear me; and that which I have seen I will declare; |
| 18 | Which wise men have told from
their fathers, and have not hid it: |
|
19 | Unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed
among them. |
| 20 | The
wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, and the number of years is hidden
to the oppressor. |
| 21 | A
dreadful sound is in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon
him. |
| 22 | He believeth not
that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for of the sword. |
| 23 | He wandereth abroad for
bread, saying, Where is it? he knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his
hand. |
| 24 | Trouble and
anguish shall make him afraid; they shall prevail against him, as a king ready
to the battle. |
| 25 | For he
stretcheth out his hand against God, and strengtheneth himself against the
Almighty. |
| 26 | He runneth
upon him, even on his neck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers: |
| 27 | Because he covereth his face with
his fatness, and maketh collops of fat on his flanks. |
| 28 | And he dwelleth in desolate cities,
and in houses which no man inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps. |
| 29 | He shall not be rich,
neither shall his substance continue, neither shall he prolong the perfection
thereof upon the earth. |
| 30 |
He shall not depart out of darkness; the flame shall dry up his branches,
and by the breath of his mouth shall he go away. |
|
31 | Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity: for
vanity shall be his recompence. |
|
32 | It shall be accomplished before his time, and 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. |
| 34 | For the
congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the
tabernacles of bribery. |
| 35 |
They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth
deceit. |
