Jó 15

¹ ELIPHAZ THE TEMANITE REPLIED:

² »Should a wise man answer with empty notions or be filled with the hot east wind?

³ »Would he reason with useless words, with speeches that have no value?

⁴ »You even undermine piety and hinder prayer to God.

⁵ »Your sin inspires your mouth. You choose the tongue of the crafty.

⁶ »Your own mouth condemns you, not mine! Your own lips testify against you.

⁷ »Are you the first man ever born? Were you created before the hills?

⁸ »Have you heard God’s council? Do you limit wisdom to yourself?

⁹ »What do you know that we do not know? What insights do you have that we do not have?

¹⁰ »The gray-haired and the aged are on our side, men even older than your father.

¹¹ »Are God’s consolations not enough for you, words spoken gently to you?

¹² »Why does your heart carry you away? Why do your eyes flash?

¹³ »Why do you vent your rage against God and pour out such words from your mouth?

¹⁴ »What is man, that he could be pure? Or he who is born of woman, that he could be righteous?

¹⁵ »If God places no trust in his holy ones, if even the heavens are not pure in his eyes,

¹⁶ how much less man, who is vile and corrupt, who drinks up evil like water!

¹⁷ »Listen to me and I will explain to you what I have seen.

¹⁸ »What have wise men declared, hiding nothing received from their fathers,

¹⁹ to whom alone the land was given when no alien passed among them?

²⁰ »All his days the wicked man suffers torment and the ruthless through all the years stored up for him.

²¹ »Terrifying sounds fill his ears. When all seems well, marauders attack him.

²² »He despairs of escaping the darkness; he is marked for the sword.

²³ »He wanders about as food for vultures and he knows the day of darkness is at hand.

²⁴ »Distress and anguish fill him with terror. They overwhelm him, like a king poised to attack.

²⁵ »He shakes his fist at God and vaunts bragsshows off himself against the Almighty,

²⁶ »He defiantly charges against him with a thick, strong shield.

²⁷ »His face is covered with fat and his waist bulges with flesh.

²⁸ »He will inhabit ruined towns and houses where no one lives, houses crumbling to rubble.

²⁹ »He will no longer be rich and his wealth will not endure, nor will his possessions spread over the land.

³⁰ »He will not escape the darkness; a flame will wither his shoots, and the breath of God’s mouth will carry him away.

³¹ »Let him not deceive himself by trusting what is worthless. He will get nothing in return.

³² »Before his time he will be paid in full, and his branches will not flourish.

³³ »He will be like a vine stripped of its unripe grapes, like an olive tree shedding its blossoms.

³⁴ »The company of the godless will be barren. And fire will consume the tents of those who love bribes.

³⁵ »They conceive trouble and give birth to evil. Their womb fashions deceit.«