^{1 Ref} Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said,

^{2 Ref} Should a wise man make answer with vain knowledge, And fill himself with the east wind?

^{3 Ref} Should he reason with unprofitable talk, Or with speeches wherewith he can do no good?

^{4 Ref} Yea, thou doest away with fear, And hinderest devotion before God.

^{5 Ref} For thine iniquity teacheth thy mouth, And thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.

^{6 Ref} Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I; Yea, thine own lips testify against thee.

^{7 Ref} Art thou the first man that was born? Or wast thou brought forth before the hills?

^{8 Ref} Hast thou heard the secret counsel of God? And dost thou limit wisdom to thyself?

^{9 Ref} What knowest thou, that we know not? What understandest thou, which is not in us?

^{10 Ref} With us are both the gray-headed and the very aged men, Much elder than thy father.

^{11 Ref} Are the consolations of God too small for thee, Even the word that is gentle toward thee?

^{12 Ref} Why doth thy heart carry thee away? And why do thine eyes flash,

^{13 Ref} That against God thou turnest thy spirit, And lettest words go out of thy mouth?

^{14 Ref} What is man, that he should be clean? And he that is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?

^{15 Ref} Behold, he putteth no trust in his holy ones; Yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight:

^{16 Ref} How much less one that is abominable and corrupt, A man that drinketh iniquity like water!

^{17 Ref} I will show thee, hear thou me; And that which I have seen I will declare:

^{18 Ref} (Which wise men have told From their fathers, and have not hid it;

^{19 Ref} Unto whom alone the land was given, And no stranger passed among them):

^{20 Ref} The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, Even the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor.

^{21 Ref} A sound of terrors is in his ears; In prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him.

^{22 Ref} He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, And he is waited for of the sword.

^{23 Ref} He wandereth abroad for bread, `saying', Where is it? He knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.

^{24 Ref} Distress and anguish make him afraid; They prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.

^{25 Ref} Because he hath stretched out his hand against God, And behaveth himself proudly against the Almighty;

^{26 Ref} He runneth upon him with a `stiff' neck, With the thick bosses of his bucklers;

^{27 Ref} Because he hath covered his face with his fatness, And gathered fat upon his loins;

^{28 Ref} And he hath dwelt in desolate cities, In houses which no man inhabited, Which were ready to become heaps;

^{29 Ref} He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, Neither shall their possessions be extended on the earth.

^{30 Ref} He shall not depart out of darkness; The flame shall dry up his branches, And by the breath of `God's' mouth shall he go away.

^{31 Ref} Let him not trust in vanity, deceiving himself; For vanity shall be his recompense.

^{32 Ref} It shall be accomplished before his time, And his branch shall not be green.

^{33 Ref} He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, And shall cast off his flower as the olive-tree.

^{34 Ref} For the company of the godless shall be barren, And fire shall consume the tents of bribery.

^{35 Ref} They conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity, And their heart prepareth deceit.