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