Eliphaz Accuses Job of Folly

² “ Should a wise man answer with empty knowledge,
And fill himself with the east wind?

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

⁴ Yes, you cast off fear,
And restrain prayer 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 man who was born?
Or were you made before the hills?

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

⁹ What do you know that we do not know?
What do you understand that is not in us?

¹⁰ Both the gray-haired and the aged are among us,
Much older than your father.

¹¹ Are the consolations of God too small for you,
And the word spoken gently^[a] with you?

¹² Why does your heart carry you away,
And what do your eyes wink at,

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

¹⁴ “What is man, that he could be pure?
And he who is born of a woman, that he could be righteous?

¹⁵ If God puts no trust in His saints,
And the heavens are not pure in His sight,

¹⁶ How much less man, who is abominable and filthy,
Who drinks iniquity like water!

¹⁷ “I will tell you, hear me;
What I have seen I will declare,

¹⁸ What wise men have told,
Not hiding anything received from their fathers,

¹⁹ To whom alone the land was given,
And no alien passed among them:

²⁰ The wicked man writhes with pain all his days,
And the number of years is hidden from the oppressor.

²¹ Dreadful sounds are in his ears;
In prosperity the destroyer comes upon him.

²² He does not believe that he will return from darkness,
For a sword is waiting for him.

²³ He wanders about for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’
He knows that a day of darkness is ready at his hand.

²⁴ Trouble and anguish make him afraid;
They overpower him, like a king ready for battle.

²⁵ For he stretches out his hand against God,
And acts defiantly against the Almighty,

²⁶ Running stubbornly against Him
With his strong, embossed shield.

²⁷ “ Though he has covered his face with his fatness,
And made his waist heavy with fat,

²⁸ He dwells in desolate cities,
In houses which no one inhabits,
Which are destined to become ruins.

²⁹ He will not be rich,
Nor will his wealth continue,
Nor will his possessions overspread the earth.

³⁰ He will not depart from darkness;
The flame will dry out his branches,
And by the breath of His mouth he will go away.

³¹ Let him not trust in futile things, deceiving himself,
For futility will be his reward.

³² It will be accomplished before his time,
And his branch will not be green.

³³ He will shake off his unripe grape like a vine,
And cast off his blossom like an olive tree.

³⁴ For the company of hypocrites will be barren,
And fire will consume the tents of bribery.

³⁵ They conceive trouble and bring forth futility;
Their womb prepares deceit.”