1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,
2 Should a wise man make answer with vain knowledge, And fill himself with the east wind?
3 Should he reason with unprofitable talk, Or with speeches by which he can do no good?
4 Yes, you do away with fear, And hinder devotion before God.
5 For your iniquity teaches your mouth, And you choose the tongue of the crafty.
6 Your own mouth condemns you, and not I; Yes, your own lips testify against you.
7 Are you the first of man who was born? Or were you brought forth before the hills?
8 Have you heard the secret counsel of God? And do you limit wisdom to yourself?
9 What do you know, that we don't know? What do you understand, which is not in us?
10 With us are both the gray-headed and the very aged men, Much older than your father.
11 Are the consolations of God too small for you, Even the word that is gentle toward you?
12 Why does your heart carry you away? And why do your eyes flash,
13 That against God you turn your spirit, And let words go out of your mouth?
14 What is common man, that he should be clean? And he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
15 Look, he puts no trust in his holy ones; Yes, the heavens are not clean in his eyes:
16 How much less one who is disgusting and corrupt, A man who drinks iniquity like water!
17 I will show you, hear me; And that which I have seen I will declare:
18 (Which wise men have told From their fathers, and have not hid it;
19 To whom alone the land was given, And no stranger passed among them):
20 The wicked man travails with pain all his days, Even the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor.
21 A sound of terrors is in his ears; In prosperity the destroyer will come upon him.
22 He does not believe that he will return out of darkness, And he is destined for the sword.
23 He is destined for bread, as bread for vultures. He knows that he is ready for destruction.
24 The day of darkness terrifies him, distress and anguish make him afraid; They prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.
25 Because he has stretched out his hand against God, And behaves himself proudly against the Almighty;
26 He runs on him with a [stiff] neck, With the thick bosses of his bucklers;
27 Because he has covered his face with his fatness, And gathered fat on his loins;
28 And he has stayed in desolate cities, In houses which no man inhabited, Which were ready to become heaps;
29 He will not be rich, neither will his substance continue, Neither will their possessions be extended on the earth.
30 He will not depart out of darkness; The flame will dry up his branches, And by the breath of [God's] mouth he will go away.
31 Let him not trust in vanity, deceiving himself; For vanity will be his recompense.
32 It will be accomplished before his time, And his branch will not be green.
33 He will shake off his unripe grape as the vine, And will cast off his flower as the olive-tree.
34 For the company of the godless will be barren, And fire will consume the tents of bribery.
35 They are pregnant with mischief, and give birth to iniquity, And their heart prepares deceit.