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