15:1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered,

15:2 Should a wise man answer with vain knowledge, And fill himself with the east wind?

15:3 Should he reason with unprofitable talk, Or with speeches with which he can do no good?

15:4 Yes, you do away with fear, And hinder devotion before God.

15:5 For your iniquity teaches your mouth, And you choose the language of the crafty.

15:6 Your own mouth condemns you, and not I; Yes, your own lips testify against you.

15:7 Are you the first man who was born? Or were you brought forth before the hills?

15:8 Have you heard the secret counsel of God? Do you limit wisdom to yourself?

15:9 What do you know, that we don`t know? What do you understand, which is not in us?

15:10 With us are both the gray-headed and the very aged men, Much elder than your father.

15:11 Are the consolations of God too small for you, Even the word that is gentle toward you?

15:12 Why does your heart carry you away? Why do your eyes flash,

15:13 That you turn your spirit against God, And let such words go out of your mouth?

15:14 What is man, that he should be clean? He who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?

15:15 Behold, he puts no trust in his holy ones; Yes, the heavens are not clean in his sight:

15:16 How much less one who is abominable and corrupt, A man who drinks iniquity like water!

15:17 I will show you, listen to me; That which I have seen I will declare:

15:18 (Which wise men have told From their fathers, and have not hidden it;

15:19 To whom alone the land was given, And no stranger passed among them):

15:20 The wicked man travails 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 on him.

15:22 He doesn`t believe that he shall return out of darkness, He is waited for by the sword.

15:23 He wanders abroad for bread, saying, `Where is it?` He knows 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 has stretched out his hand against God, And behaves himself proudly against the Almighty;

15:26 He runs at him with a stiff neck, With the thick shields of his bucklers;

15:27 Because he has covered his face with his fatness, And gathered fat on his loins.

15:28 He has lived in desolate cities, In houses which no one 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, By the breath of God`s mouth shall he go away.

15:31 Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself; For emptiness shall be his reward.

15:32 It shall be accomplished before his time. 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.