Job 15

NEW JERUSALEM	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
1 Eliphaz of Teman spoke next. He said:	1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite spoke and said:
2 Does anyone wise respond with windy arguments, or feed on an east wind?	2 Should a wise man answer with airy opinions, or puff himself up with wind?
3 Or make a defence with ineffectual words and speeches good for nothing?	3 Should he argue in speech which does not avail, and in words which are to no profit?
4 You do worse: you suppress reverence, you discredit discussion before God.	4 You in fact do away with piety, and you lessen devotion toward God,
5 Your very fault incites you to speak like this, hence you adopt this language of cunning.	5 Because your wickedness instructs your mouth, and you choose to speak like the crafty.
6 Your own mouth condemns you, and not I; your own lips bear witness against you.	6 Your own mouth condemns you, not I; you own lips refute you.
7 Are you the first-born of the human race, brought into the world before the hills?	7 Are you indeed the first-born of mankind, or were you brought forth before the hills?
8 Have you been a listener at God's council, or established a monopoly of wisdom?	8 Are you privy to the counsels of God, and do you restrict wisdom to yourself?
9 What knowledge do you have that we have not, what understanding that is not ours too?	9 What do you know that we do not know? What intelligence have you which we have not?
10 One of us is an old, grey-headed man loaded with more years than your father!	10 There are gray-haired old men among us more advanced in years than your father.
11 Can you ignore these divine consolations and the moderate tone of our words?	11 Are the consolations of God not enough for you, and speech that deals gently with you?
12 How passion carries you away! And how you rol your eyes,	12 Why do your notions carry you away, and why do your eyes blink,
13 when you vent your anger on God and speeches come tripping off your tongue!	13 So that you turn your anger against God and let such words escape your mouth!
14 How can anyone be pure, anyone born of woman be upright?	14 What is a man that he should be blameless, one born of woman that he should be righteous?
15 God cannot rely even on his holy ones, to him, even the heavens seem impure.	15 If in his holy ones God places no confidence, and if the heavens are not clean in his sight,
16 How much more, this hateful, corrupt thing, humanity, which soaks up wickedness like water!	16 How much less so is the abominable, the corrupt: man, who drinks in iniquity like water!
17 Listen to me, I have a lesson for you: I am going to impart my own experience	17 I will show you, if you listen to me; what I have seen I will tell--
18 and the tradition of the sages who have remained faithful to their ancestors,	18 What wise men relate and have not contradicted since the days of their fathers,
19 to whom alone the land was given -- no foreigner included among them.	19 To whom alone the land was given, when no foreigner moved among them.
20 The life of the wicked is unceasing torment, the years al otted to the tyrant are numbered.	20 The wicked man is in torment all his days, and limited years are in store for the tyrant;
21 A cry of panic echoes in his ear; when al is peace, his destroyer swoops down on him.	21 The sound of terrors is in his ears; when all is prosperous, the spoiler comes upon him.
22 No more can he count on escaping from the dark, but knows that he is destined for the sword,	22 He despairs of escaping the darkness, and looks ever for the sword;
23 marked down as meat for the vulture. He knows that his ruin is at hand.	23 A wanderer, food for the vultures, he knows that his destruction is imminent.
24 The hour of darkness terrifies him, distress and anguish assail him as when a king is poised for theassault.	24 By day the darkness fills him with dread; distress and anguish overpower him.
25 He raised his hand against God, boldly he defied Shaddai!	25 Because he has stretched out his hand against God and bade defiance to the Almighty,
26 Head lowered, he charged him, with his massively bossed shield.	26 One shall rush sternly upon him with the stout bosses of his shield, like a king prepared for the charge.
27 His face had grown ful and fat, and his thighs too heavy with flesh.	27 Because he has blinded himself with his crassness, padding his loins with fat,
28 He had occupied the towns he had destroyed, with their uninhabited houses about to fal into ruins;	28 He shall dwell in ruinous cities, in houses that are deserted, That are crumbling into clay
29 but no great profit to him, his luck will not hold, he wil cast his shadow over the country no longer,	29 with no shadow to lengthen over the ground. He shall not be rich, and his possessions shall not endure;
30 (he wil not escape the dark). A flame wil scorch his young shoots, the wind will carry off his blossom.	30 A flame shall wither him up in his early growth, and with the wind his blossoms shall disappear.
31 Let him not trust in his great height or delusion will be his.	31 for vain shall be his bartering.
32 His palm trees wil wither before their time and his branches never again be green.	32 His stalk shall wither before its time, and his branches shall be green no more.
33 Like the vine, he wil shake off his unripe fruit, like the olive tree, shed his blossom.	33 He shall be like a vine that sheds its grapes unripened, and like an olive tree casting off its bloom.
34 Yes, sterile is the spawn of the sinner, and fire consumes the tents of the venal.	34 For the breed of the impious shall be sterile, and fire shall consume the tents of extortioners.
35 Whoever conceives malice, breeds disaster, bears as offspring only a false hope.	35 They conceive malice and bring forth emptiness; they give birth to failure.