¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,

²“Does a wise man answer with knowledge which is nothing but hot air?

– Or does he fill his belly with the east wind?

³Does one argue with a word that is of no avail?

– Or with speeches in which there is no benefit?

⁴But you would even nullify fear

And minimize the dignity of colloquy with God.

⁵For your mouth spells out your iniquity,

And you choose crafty language.

⁶Your mouth condemns you

– Not I;

And your lips testify against you.

⁷Are you the first man to be born?

Were you brought forth before the hills?

⁸Have you heard the secret counsel of God?

Do you reserve wisdom to yourself?

⁹What do you know

That we don't know?

What do you understand

That we are not aware of?

¹⁰Amongst us are the elderly and aged,

Older than your father in days.

¹¹Are the consolations of God too small a matter for you?

And are you indifferent to the matter?

¹²How come your heart is carrying you away?

How come your eyes are winking?

¹³For you are turning your spirit against God

When you bring such words out of your mouth.

¹⁴What is man

That he should be pure,

And that he who is born of a woman

Should be just?

¹⁵Behold, he does not put trust in his holy ones,

And the heavens are not pure in his sight.

¹⁶How much less a man abhorred and corrupt

– A man who drinks iniquity like water.

¹⁷I will explain it to you;

Listen to me,

And I will declare

What I have seen

¹⁸– Things which wise men have told of

And have not hidden,

Handed down from their forefathers.

¹⁹To them alone the land was given,

And no stranger crossed through their midst.

²⁰A wicked person writhes in discomfort all his days,

And the number of years of a violent man is hidden.

²¹A fearful sound is in his ears;

In a peaceful time the plunderer will come upon him.

²²He does not believe he will return from darkness,

And he expects

To be destined for the sword.

²³He wanders around looking for where there is food;

He knows that the day of darkness is at hand.

²⁴Adversity and distress terrify him;

They prevail over him like a king ready for battle.

²⁵For he stretches out his hand against God,

And he behaves insolently against the Almighty.

²⁶He runs headlong against him

With thick bosses on his shields.

²⁷For he has covered his face with fatness

And put on flab around his waist.

²⁸So he will dwell in desolate cities,

Where houses are uninhabitable

– Which are on the point of becoming heaps of ruins.

²⁹He will not become rich,

And his wealth will not endure.

So riches of such will not increase on earth.

³⁰He does not depart from darkness.

A flame dries up his sucker,

And by the breath of his mouth he is removed.

³¹Let him who has been deceived not trust in vanity,

For vanity will be his recompense.

³²His time will be fulfilled before it is due,

And his branch will not be green.

³³He will be as a vine that shakes off its unripened grapes

And as an olive tree that casts off its blossom,

³⁴For the congregation of the profane is fruitless,

And fire will consume the tents of the corrupt.

³⁵They conceive sorrow

And give birth to worthlessness,

And their inner workings prepare deceit.”