Job 15

NEW JERUSALEM	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 Eliphaz of Teman spoke next. He said:	1 But Eliphaz the Themanite, answering, said:
2 Does anyone wise respond with windy arguments, or feed on an east wind?	2 Will a wise man answer as if he were speaking wind, and will he fill his stomach with fire?
3 Or make a defence with ineffectual words and speeches good for nothing?	3 You rebuke with words he who is not equal to you, and you speak what is not expedient for you,
4 You do worse: you suppress reverence, you discredit discussion before God.	4 to such an extent that, within yourself, you have expelled reverence and have taken away prayers from the presence of God.
5 Your very fault incites you to speak like this, hence you adopt this language of cunning.	5 For your iniquity has mislead your mouth, and you imitate the tongue of blasphemers.
6 Your own mouth condemns you, and not I; your own lips bear witness against you.	6 Your own mouth will condemn you, not I; and your own lips will answer you.
7 Are you the first-born of the human race, brought into the world before the hills?	7 Are you the first man who was born, or were you formed before the hills?
8 Have you been a listener at God's council, or established a monopoly of wisdom?	8 Have you heard the intentions of God, and will his wisdom be inferior to you?
9 What knowledge do you have that we have not, what understanding that is not ours too?	9 What do you know, about which we are ignorant? What do you understand that we do not know?
10 One of us is an old, grey-headed man loaded with more years than your father!	10 There are with us both aged and ancient men, even more senior than your fathers.
11 Can you ignore these divine consolations and the moderate tone of our words?	11 Is it so important that God should console you? But your own depraved words prevent this.
12 How passion carries you away! And how you rol your eyes,	12 Why does your heart exalt you, and why do you gaze with your eyes, as if thinking great things?
13 when you vent your anger on God and speeches come tripping off your tongue!	13 Why does your spirit stir against God, so as to utter such speeches from your mouth?
14 How can anyone be pure, anyone born of woman be upright?	14 What is man that he should be immaculate, and that he should appear just, having been born of woman?
15 God cannot rely even on his holy ones, to him, even the heavens seem impure.	15 Behold, among his holy ones not one is immutable, and even the heavens are not pure in his sight.
16 How much more, this hateful, corrupt thing, humanity, which soaks up wickedness like water!	16 How much more abominable and useless is the man who drinks as if from the water of iniquity?
17 Listen to me, I have a lesson for you: I am going to impart my own experience	17 I will reveal to you, so listen to me; and I will explain to you what I have seen.
18 and the tradition of the sages who have remained faithful to their ancestors,	18 The wise acknowledge, and they do not leave behind, their fathers,
19 to whom alone the land was given -- no foreigner included among them.	19 to whom alone the earth has been given, and no stranger passed among them.
20 The life of the wicked is unceasing torment, the years al otted to the tyrant are numbered.	20 The impious is arrogant for all his days, and the number of the years of his tyranny is uncertain.
21 A cry of panic echoes in his ear; when al is peace, his destroyer swoops down on him.	21 The sound of terror is always in his ears; and when there is peace, he always suspects treason.
22 No more can he count on escaping from the dark, but knows that he is destined for the sword,	22 He does not believe that it is possible for him to be turned from darkness into the light, for he sees around him the sword on every side.
23 marked down as meat for the vulture. He knows that his ruin is at hand.	23 When he moves himself to seek bread, he knows that the day of darkness has been prepared for his hand.
24 The hour of darkness terrifies him, distress and anguish assail him as when a king is poised for theassault.	24 Tribulation will terrify him, and anguish will prevail over him, like a king who is being prepared to go to battle.
25 He raised his hand against God, boldly he defied Shaddai!	25 For he has extended his hand against God, and he has strengthened himself against the Almighty.
26 Head lowered, he charged him, with his massively bossed shield.	26 He has rushed against him with his throat exposed, and he has been armed with a fat neck.
27 His face had grown ful and fat, and his thighs too heavy with flesh.	27 Thickness has covered his face, and lard hangs down from his sides.
28 He had occupied the towns he had destroyed, with their uninhabited houses about to fal into ruins;	28 He has lived in desolate cities and deserted houses, which have been turned into tombs.
29 but no great profit to him, his luck will not hold, he wil cast his shadow over the country no longer,	29 He will not be enriched, nor will his basic necessities endure, nor will he establish his root in the earth.
30 (he wil not escape the dark). A flame wil scorch his young shoots, the wind will carry off his blossom.	30 He will not withdraw from the darkness; the flame will burn up his branches, and he will be defeated by the breath of his own mouth.
31 Let him not trust in his great height or delusion will be his.	31 He will not believe, being vainly deceived by error, that he could be redeemed at any price.
32 His palm trees wil wither before their time and his branches never again be green.	32 Before his time is completed, he will pass into ruin and his hands will wither away.
33 Like the vine, he wil shake off his unripe fruit, like the olive tree, shed his blossom.	33 He will be wounded like a grapevine, when its cluster is in first flower, and like an olive tree that casts off its flower.
34 Yes, sterile is the spawn of the sinner, and fire consumes the tents of the venal.	34 For the congregation of the hypocrites is fruitless, and fire will devour the tabernacles of those who love to accept money.
35 Whoever conceives malice, breeds disaster, bears as offspring only a false hope.	35 He has conceived sorrow, and he has brought forth iniquity, and his womb prepares deceit.