1
ASV
Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said,
2
ASV
Should a wise man make answer with vain knowledge, And fill himself with the east wind?
3
ASV
Should he reason with unprofitable talk, Or with speeches wherewith he can do no good?
4
ASV
Yea, thou doest away with fear, And hinderest devotion before God.
5
ASV
For thine iniquity teacheth thy mouth, And thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.
6
ASV
Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I; Yea, thine own lips testify against thee.
7
ASV
Art thou the first man that was born? Or wast thou brought forth before the hills?
8
ASV
Hast thou heard the secret counsel of God? And dost thou limit wisdom to thyself?
9
ASV
What knowest thou, that we know not? What understandest thou, which is not in us?
10
ASV
With us are both the gray-headed and the very aged men, Much elder than thy father.
11
ASV
Are the consolations of God too small for thee, Even the word that is gentle toward thee?
12
ASV
Why doth thy heart carry thee away? And why do thine eyes flash,
13
ASV
That against God thou turnest thy spirit, And lettest words go out of thy mouth?
14
ASV
What is man, that he should be clean? And he that is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
15
ASV
Behold, he putteth no trust in his holy ones; Yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight:
16
ASV
How much less one that is abominable and corrupt, A man that drinketh iniquity like water!
17
ASV
I will show thee, hear thou me; And that which I have seen I will declare
18
ASV
(Which wise men have told From their fathers, and have not hid it;
19
ASV
Unto whom alone the land was given, And no stranger passed among them):
20
ASV
The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, Even the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor.
21
ASV
A sound of terrors is in his ears; In prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him.
22
ASV
He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, And he is waited for of the sword.
23
ASV
He wandereth abroad for bread, [saying], Where is it? He knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.
24
ASV
Distress and anguish make him afraid; They prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.
25
ASV
Because he hath stretched out his hand against God, And behaveth himself proudly against the Almighty;
26
ASV
He runneth upon him with a [stiff] neck, With the thick bosses of his bucklers;
27
ASV
Because he hath covered his face with his fatness, And gathered fat upon his loins;
28
ASV
And he hath dwelt in desolate cities, In houses which no man inhabited, Which were ready to become heaps;
29
ASV
He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, Neither shall their possessions be extended on the earth.
30
ASV
He shall not depart out of darkness; The flame shall dry up his branches, And by the breath of [God’s] mouth shall he go away.
31
ASV
Let him not trust in vanity, deceiving himself; For vanity shall be his recompense.
32
ASV
It shall be accomplished before his time, And his branch shall not be green.
33
ASV
He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, And shall cast off his flower as the olive-tree.
34
ASV
For the company of the godless shall be barren, And fire shall consume the tents of bribery.
35
ASV
They conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity, And their heart prepareth deceit.
ASV: American Standard Version (1901). Public domain.