Job 15-16

Job 15

¹And Eliphaz the Temanite answereth and saith: --

²Doth a wise man answer with vain knowledge? And fill with an east wind his belly?

³To reason with a word not useful? And speeches -- no profit in them?

⁴Yea, thou dost make reverence void, And dost diminish meditation before God.

⁵For thy mouth teacheth thine iniquity, And thou chooseth the tongue of the subtile.

⁶Thy mouth declareth thee wicked, and not I, And thy lips testify against thee.

⁷The first man art thou born? And before the heights wast thou formed?

⁸Of the secret counsel of God dost thou hear? And withdrawest thou unto thee wisdom?

⁹What hast thou known, and we know not? Understandest thou -- and it is not with us?

¹⁰Both the gray-headed And the very aged are among us -- Greater than thy father in days.

¹¹Too few for thee are the comforts of God? And a gentle word is with thee,

¹²What -- doth thine heart take thee away? And what -- are thine eyes high?

¹³For thou turnest against God thy spirit? And hast brought out words from thy mouth:

¹⁴What is man that he is pure, And that he is righteous, one born of woman?

¹⁵Lo, in His holy ones He putteth no credence, And the heavens have not been pure in His eyes.

¹⁶Also -- surely abominable and filthy Is man drinking as water perverseness.

¹⁷I shew thee -- hearken to me -- And this I have seen and declare:

¹⁸Which the wise declare -- And have not hid -- from their fathers.

¹⁹To them alone was the land given, And a stranger passed not over into their midst:

²⁰‘All days of the wicked he is paining himself, And few years have been laid up for the terrible one.

²¹A fearful voice is in his ears, In peace doth a destroyer come to him.

²²He believeth not to return from darkness, And watched is he for the sword.

²³He is wandering for bread -- ‘Where is it?' He hath known that ready at his hand Is a day of darkness.

²⁴Terrify him do adversity and distress, They prevail over him As a king ready for a boaster.

²⁵For he stretched out against God his hand, And against the Mighty he maketh himself mighty.

²⁶He runneth unto Him with a neck, With thick bosses of his shields.

²⁷For he hath covered his face with his fat, And maketh vigour over his confidence.

²⁸And he inhabiteth cities cut off, houses not dwelt in, That have been ready to become heaps.

²⁹He is not rich, nor doth his wealth rise, Nor doth he stretch out on earth their continuance.

³⁰He turneth not aside from darkness, His tender branch doth a flame dry up, And he turneth aside at the breath of His mouth!

³¹Let him not put credence in vanity, He hath been deceived, For vanity is his recompence.

³²Not in his day is it completed, And his bending branch is not green.

³³He shaketh off as a vine his unripe fruit, And casteth off as an olive his blossom.

³⁴For the company of the profane is gloomy, And fire hath consumed tents of bribery.

³⁵To conceive misery, and to bear iniquity, Even their heart doth prepare deceit.

Job 16

¹And Job answereth and saith: --

²I have heard many such things, Miserable comforters are ye all.

³Is there an end to words of wind? Or what doth embolden thee that thou answerest?

⁴I also, like you, might speak, If your soul were in my soul's stead. I might join against you with words, And nod at you with my head.

⁵I might harden you with my mouth, And the moving of my lips might be sparing.

⁶If I speak, my pain is not restrained, And I cease -- what goeth from me?

⁷Only, now, it hath wearied me; Thou hast desolated all my company,

⁸And Thou dost loathe me, For a witness it hath been, And rise up against me doth my failure, In my face it testifieth.

⁹His anger hath torn, and he hateth me, He hath gnashed at me with his teeth, My adversary sharpeneth his eyes for me.

¹⁰They have gaped on me with their mouth, In reproach they have smitten my cheeks, Together against me they set themselves.

¹¹God shutteth me up unto the perverse, And to the hands of the wicked turneth me over.

¹²At ease I have been, and he breaketh me, And he hath laid hold on my neck, And he breaketh me in pieces, And he raiseth me to him for a mark.

¹³Go round against me do his archers. He splitteth my reins, and spareth not, He poureth out to the earth my gall.

¹⁴He breaketh me -- breach upon breach, He runneth upon me as a mighty one.

¹⁵Sackcloth I have sewed on my skin, And have rolled in the dust my horn.

¹⁶My face is foul with weeping, And on mine eyelids is death-shade.

¹⁷Not for violence in my hands, And my prayer is pure.

¹⁸O earth, do not thou cover my blood! And let there not be a place for my cry.

¹⁹Also, now, lo, in the heavens is my witness, And my testifier in the high places.

²⁰My interpreter is my friend, Unto God hath mine eye dropped:

²¹And he reasoneth for a man with God, And a son of man for his friend.

²²When a few years do come, Then a path I return not do I go.