| Chapter 15 |
1 | Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said,
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2 | Should a wise men utter vain knowledge, and fill his belly 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, thou castest off fear, and restrainest prayer before God.
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5 | For thy mouth uttereth thy iniquity, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.
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6 | Thy own mouth condemneth thee, and not I: yes, thy own lips testify against thee.
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7 | Art thou the first man that was born? or wast thou made before the hills?
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8 | Hast thou heard the secret of God? and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself?
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9 | What knowest thou that we know not? what understandest thou, which is not in us?
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10 | With us are both the gray headed and very aged men, much older than thy father.
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11 | Are the consolations of God small with thee? is there any secret thing with thee?
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12 | Why doth thy heart carry thee away? and what do thy eyes wink at,
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13 | That thou turnest thy spirit against God, and lettest such words go out of thy mouth?
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14 | What is man, that he should be clean? and he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
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15 | Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yes, the heavens are not clean in his sight.
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16 | How much more abominable and filthy is man, who drinketh iniquity like water?
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17 | I will show thee, hear me; and that which I have seen, I will declare;
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18 | Which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hid it:
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19 | To whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them.
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20 | The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor.
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21 | A dreadful sound is in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him.
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22 | He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for by the sword.
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23 | He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where is it? he knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.
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24 | Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid; they shall prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.
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25 | For he stretcheth out his hand against God, and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty.
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26 | He runneth upon him, even on his neck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers:
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27 | Because he covereth his face with his fatness, and maketh collops of fat on his flanks.
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28 | And he dwelleth in desolate cities, and in houses which no man inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps.
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29 | He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall he prolong the perfection of it upon the earth.
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30 | He shall not depart out of darkness; the flame shall dry up his branches, and by the breath of his mouth shall he go away.
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31 | Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity: for vanity shall be his recompense.
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32 | It shall be accomplished before his time, and 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.
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34 | For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery.
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35 | They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth deceit.
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