1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said, 2 "Should [the] wise answer [with] windy knowledge, and should he fill his stomach [with the] east wind? 3 Should he argue in talk [that] is not profitable or [in] words with which he cannot do good? 4 "{What is worse}, you yourself are doing away with fear, and you are lessening meditation {before} God. 5 For your iniquity teaches your mouth, and you choose [the] tongue of [the] crafty. 6 Your mouth condemns you, and not I; and your lips testify against you.
7 "Were you born the firstborn of the human race? And were you brought forth {before} [the] hills? 8 Have you listened in God's confidential discussion? And do you limit wisdom to yourself? 9 What do you know that we do not know? [What] do you understand that [is] not clear to us? 10 Both [the] gray-haired and [the] old [are] among us-- {those older than your father}. 11 "Are the consolations of God too small for you, a word [spoken] gently with you? 12 Why does your heart carry you away? And why do your eyes flash, 13 that you turn your spirit against God, and you let [such] words go out of your mouth?
14 "What [is] a human being, that he can be clean, or that [one] born of a woman can be righteous? 15 Look, he does not trust his holy ones, and [the] heavens are not clean in his eyes. 16 {How much less} he who is abominable and corrupt, a man drinking wickedness like water.
17 "I will show you, listen to me; and what I have seen, I will tell-- 18 what wise men have told, and they have not hidden [that which is] from their ancestors, 19 {to whom alone} the land was given, and no stranger passed through their midst. 20 "All of the wicked [one's] days he is writhing, even [through] the number of years that are laid up for the tyrant. 21 Sounds of terror [are] in his ears; in prosperity [the] destroyer will come [against] him. 22 {He cannot trust that he will return} from darkness, and he himself is destined for [the] sword. 23 "He is wandering for bread, [saying], 'Where [is it]?' He knows that a day of darkness [is] ready {at hand}. 24 Anguish and distress terrify him; they overpower him like a king ready for the battle. 25 Because he stretched out his hand against God, and he was arrogant to Shaddai; 26 he {stubbornly} runs against him {with his thick-bossed shield}. 27 "Because he has covered his face with his fat and has gathered fat upon [his] loins, 28 {he will dwell} [in] desolate cities, in houses that they should not inhabit, which are destined for rubble. 29 He will not become rich, and his wealth will not endure, and their possessions will not stretch across the earth. 30 "He will not escape from darkness; a flame will dry up his new shoot, and by the wind of his mouth he shall be removed. 31 Let him not trust in emptiness--he will be deceiving himself-- for worthlessness will be his recompense. 32 It will be paid in full {before his time}, and his branch will not flourish. 33 "He will shake off his unripe fruit like the vine, and he will cast off his blossom like the olive tree; 34 for [the] company of [the] godless [is] barren, and fire consumes the tents of those who accept bribes. 35 [They] conceive trouble and bring forth mischief, and their womb prepares deceit."