New Living Translation

English Standard Version

1Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:

1Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:

2“A wise man wouldn’t answer with such empty talk! You are nothing but a windbag.

2“Should a wise man answer with windy knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind?

3The wise don’t engage in empty chatter. What good are such words?

3Should he argue in unprofitable talk, or in words with which he can do no good?

4Have you no fear of God, no reverence for him?

4But you are doing away with the fear of God and hindering meditation before God.

5Your sins are telling your mouth what to say. Your words are based on clever deception.

5For your iniquity teaches your mouth, and you choose the tongue of the crafty.

6Your own mouth condemns you, not I. Your own lips testify against you.

6Your own mouth condemns you, and not I; your own lips testify against you.

7“Were you the first person ever born? Were you born before the hills were made?

7“Are you the first man who was born? Or were you brought forth before the hills?

8Were you listening at God’s secret council? Do you have a monopoly on wisdom?

8Have you listened in the council of God? And do you limit wisdom to yourself?

9What do you know that we don’t? What do you understand that we do not?

9What do you know that we do not know? What do you understand that is not clear to us?

10On our side are aged, gray-haired men much older than your father!

10Both the gray-haired and the aged are among us, older than your father.

11“Is God’s comfort too little for you? Is his gentle word not enough?

11Are the comforts of God too small for you, or the word that deals gently with you?

12What has taken away your reason? What has weakened your vision,

12Why does your heart carry you away, and why do your eyes flash,

13that you turn against God and say all these evil things?

13that you turn your spirit against God and bring such words out of your mouth?

14Can any mortal be pure? Can anyone born of a woman be just?

14What is man, that he can be pure? Or he who is born of a woman, that he can be righteous?

15Look, God does not even trust the angels. Even the heavens are not absolutely pure in his sight.

15Behold, God puts no trust in his holy ones, and the heavens are not pure in his sight;

16How much less pure is a corrupt and sinful person with a thirst for wickedness!

16how much less one who is abominable and corrupt, a man who drinks injustice like water!

17“If you will listen, I will show you. I will answer you from my own experience.

17“I will show you; hear me, and what I have seen I will declare

18And it is confirmed by the reports of wise men who have heard the same thing from their fathers—

18(what wise men have told, without hiding it from their fathers,

19from those to whom the land was given long before any foreigners arrived.

19to whom alone the land was given, and no stranger passed among them).

20“The wicked writhe in pain throughout their lives. Years of trouble are stored up for the ruthless.

20The wicked man writhes in pain all his days, through all the years that are laid up for the ruthless.

21The sound of terror rings in their ears, and even on good days they fear the attack of the destroyer.

21Dreadful sounds are in his ears; in prosperity the destroyer will come upon him.

22They dare not go out into the darkness for fear they will be murdered.

22He does not believe that he will return out of darkness, and he is marked for the sword.

23They wander around, saying, ‘Where can I find bread?’ They know their day of destruction is near.

23He wanders abroad for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’ He knows that a day of darkness is ready at his hand;

24That dark day terrifies them. They live in distress and anguish, like a king preparing for battle.

24distress and anguish terrify him; they prevail against him, like a king ready for battle.

25For they shake their fists at God, defying the Almighty.

25Because he has stretched out his hand against God and defies the Almighty,

26Holding their strong shields, they defiantly charge against him.

26running stubbornly against him with a thickly bossed shield;

27“These wicked people are heavy and prosperous; their waists bulge with fat.

27because he has covered his face with his fat and gathered fat upon his waist

28But their cities will be ruined. They will live in abandoned houses that are ready to tumble down.

28and has lived in desolate cities, in houses that none should inhabit, which were ready to become heaps of ruins;

29Their riches will not last, and their wealth will not endure. Their possessions will no longer spread across the horizon.

29he will not be rich, and his wealth will not endure, nor will his possessions spread over the earth;

30“They will not escape the darkness. The burning sun will wither their shoots, and the breath of God will destroy them.

30he will not depart from darkness; the flame will dry up his shoots, and by the breath of his mouth he will depart.

31Let them no longer fool themselves by trusting in empty riches, for emptiness will be their only reward.

31Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself, for emptiness will be his payment.

32They will be cut down in the prime of life; their branches will never again be green.

32It will be paid in full before his time, and his branch will not be green.

33They will be like a vine whose grapes are harvested too early, like an olive tree that loses its blossoms before the fruit can form.

33He will shake off his unripe grape like the vine, and cast off his blossom like the olive tree.

34For the godless are barren. Their homes, enriched through bribery, will burn.

34For the company of the godless is barren, and fire consumes the tents of bribery.

35They conceive trouble and give birth to evil. Their womb produces deceit.”

35They conceive trouble and give birth to evil, and their womb prepares deceit.”

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved.