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[1] THEN answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said,
[2] Should a spiritually minded man answer with knowledge and then become enraged?
[3] Should he admonish with unprofitable talk, or with words that are worthless?
[4] Yea, you also are discarding reverence, and talk too much in the presence of God.
[5] For your mouth is accustomed to utter sinful things, and you choose the deceitful tongue of the crafty.
[6] Your own mouth condemns you, and not I; yea, your own lips testify against you in my presence.
[7] Are you the first man that was born? Or were you conceived before the hills?
[8] Have you heard of the secrets of God? Has his wisdom been revealed to you?
[9] Or what do you know that we do not know? Or what do you under, stand that we do not understand?
[10] Behold, there are among us the gray-headed and the very aged men, much older in days than your father.
[11] Now talk less of God's threats, and speak comfortingly to yourself.
[12] Why does your heart boast? And what do your eyes wink at,
[13] That you boast in the presence of God, and let such words go out of your mouth?
[14] What is man, that he should be innocent? Or he that is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
[15] Behold, he puts no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight.
[16] Even though man should be rejected and afflicted, yet he shall drink iniquity like water
[17] Hear me, I will show you; and that which I have seen I will repeat;
[18] That which wise men have declared, and did not hide from their fathers;
[19] To whom alone the land was given, and no stranger passed among them.
[20] The wicked man magnifies himself all his days, and the number of the years of the violent man is hidden.
[21] A dreadful sound is in his ears; in prosperity the spoiler shall come upon him.
[22] He does not believe that he shall be overthrown because of the darkness, and that he shall see the sword.
[23] He flees because of the threat of judgment; he does not know that the day of darkness is already at his hand,
[24] Trouble and anguish shall overtake him, like a king ready for the battle,
[25] Because he has stretched out his hand against God, and strengthened himself against the Almighty.
[26] He runs against him proudly, and strangles him, with the multitudes of his shields;
[27] Because he has deceived himself with his wealth, and he places Pleiades above Aldebaran.
[28] And he dwells in desolate cities, which no man has inhabited; then he prepares for war.
[29] He shall not continue, neither shall his strength endure, nor shall his words be established 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 be rejected.
[31] Let him not trust in deceptive vanity, for his growth is in vain.
[32] He shall dry up before his time, and the work of his hands shall not be found.
[33] He shall shake off his unripe grapes, as the vine, and shall cast off his flowers as the olive tree.
[34] For the congregation of the godless shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacle of the wicked.
[35] They conceive mischief and bring forth deceit, and their belly is full of guile
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