| 1 ¶ Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said,
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| 2 Should a wise man utter vain1 knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind?
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| 3 Should he reason with unprofitable talk? or with speeches wherewith he can do no good?
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| 4 Yea, thou castest2 off fear, and restrainest prayer3 before God.
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| 5 For thy mouth uttereth4 thine iniquity, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.
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| 6 Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I: yea, thine own lips testify against thee.
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| 7 Art thou the first man that was born? or wast thou made before the hills?
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| 8 Hast thou heard the secret of God? and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself?
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| 9 What knowest thou, that we know not? what understandest thou, which is not in us?
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| 10 With us are both the grayheaded and very aged men, much elder than thy father.
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| 11 Are the consolations of God small with thee? is there any secret thing with thee?
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| 12 Why doth thine heart carry thee away? and what do thy eyes wink at,
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| 13 That thou turnest thy spirit against God, and lettest such words go out of thy mouth?
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| 14 What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
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| 15 Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight.
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| 16 How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water?
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| 17 ¶ I will shew thee, hear me; and that which I have seen I will declare;
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| 18 Which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hid it:
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| 19 Unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them.
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| 20 The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor.
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| 21 A dreadful5 sound is in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him.
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| 22 He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for of the sword.
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| 23 He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where is it? he knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.
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| 24 Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid; they shall prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.
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| 25 For he stretcheth out his hand against God, and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty.
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| 26 He runneth upon him, even on his neck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers:
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| 27 Because he covereth his face with his fatness, and maketh collops of fat on his flanks.
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| 28 And he dwelleth in desolate cities, and in houses which no man inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps.
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| 29 He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth.
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| 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.
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| 31 Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity: for vanity shall be his recompence.
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| 32 It shall be accomplished6 before his time, and his branch shall not be green.
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| 33 He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive.
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| 34 For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery.
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| 35 They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity,7 and their belly prepareth deceit.
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