Job Chapter 15
1 Eliphaz the Temanite answered:
2 “Should you answer with empty talk
and fill yourself with the east wind?
3 Should you argue with useless speech,
with words that do no good?
4 You’re losing reverence for God
and hindering meditation in front of him.
5 Your sin is telling you what you say,
and you’re choosing misleading language.
6 You condemn yourself; I don’t;
you’re testifying against yourself.
Job 15:1-6
7 “Were you the first person ever born?
Were you brought forth before the hills?
8 Can you hear God’s secret counsel?
Do you think you’re the only one that’s wise?
9 What do you know that we don’t know?
What do you understand that we don’t?
10 There are gray-haired, aged men around here
that are older than your father.
11 Are God’s consolations too small for you
or spoken too gently to you?
Job 15:7-11
12 Why does your heart carry you away?
Why do your eyes flash
13 that you turn against God,
and say such things?
14 Can mortals be pure?
Who born of women can be good?
15 God doesn’t even trust his angels absolutely
or regard the sky as perfectly pure.
16 How much less someone disgusting and corrupt
that drinks sin like water!
Job 15:12-16
17 “Listen, I’ll tell you something;
I’ll tell you what I’ve seen—
18 what the wise have said,
and their ancestors haven’t kept to themselves,
19 people the land was given to
and no foreigners passed through—
20 the sinful writhe in pain their whole life;
the ruthless have a limited number of years.
21 They hear terrifying sounds coming;
while they’re at peace, destroyers attack them.
22 They don’t expect to come back from darkness;
they feel destined for the sword.
23 They wander around asking for food;
they know darkness is on its way.
Job 15:17-23
24 Distress and anguish terrify them
like a king preparing for battle,
25 because they shake their fists at God
and defy the Almighty.
26 They attack him with abandon,
with reinforced shields.
27 They’re stout in face and thigh,
28 but they’ll live in desolate towns,
in houses nobody wants to occupy,
homes destined for demolition.
29 They won’t get rich, their wealth won’t last;
their grain won’t be so heavy it bends over.
30 They won’t escape from darkness;
the hot sun will wither their roots;
the wind will blow away their blossoms.
Job 15:24-30
31 They shouldn’t trust in emptiness and deceive themselves;
emptiness will be their payback.
32 It will be paid in full before their time;
their palm fronds won’t turn green again.
33 Their unripe grapes will fall from the vine;
their olive trees will lose their blossoms.
34 The godless live in barren company;
fire consumes the tents of those who bribe.
35 They conceive schemes and give birth to evil;
their mind prepares deceit.”
Job 15:31-35