Chapter 15

  And Eliphaz the Temanite answereth and saith: --  

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  Doth a wise man answer [with] vain knowledge? And fill [with] an east wind his belly?  

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  To reason with a word not useful? And speeches -- no profit in them?  

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  Yea, thou dost make reverence void, And dost diminish meditation before God.  

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  For thy mouth teacheth thine iniquity, And thou chooseth the tongue of the subtile.  

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  Thy mouth declareth thee wicked, and not I, And thy lips testify against thee.  

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  The first man art thou born? And before the heights wast thou formed?  

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  Of the secret counsel of God dost thou hear? And withdrawest thou unto thee wisdom?  

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  What hast thou known, and we know not? Understandest thou -- and it is not with us?  

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  Both the gray-headed And the very aged [are] among us -- Greater than thy father [in] days.  

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  Too few for thee are the comforts of God? And a gentle word [is] with thee,  

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  What -- doth thine heart take thee away? And what -- are thine eyes high?  

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  For thou turnest against God thy spirit? And hast brought out words from thy mouth:  

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  What [is] man that he is pure, And that he is righteous, one born of woman?  

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  Lo, in His holy ones He putteth no credence, And the heavens have not been pure in His eyes.  

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  Also -- surely abominable and filthy Is man drinking as water perverseness.  

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  I shew thee -- hearken to me -- And this I have seen and declare:  

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  Which the wise declare -- And have not hid -- from their fathers.  

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  To them alone was the land given, And a stranger passed not over into their midst:  

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  'All days of the wicked he is paining himself, And few years have been laid up for the terrible one.  

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  A fearful voice [is] in his ears, In peace doth a destroyer come to him.  

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  He believeth not to return from darkness, And watched [is] he for the sword.  

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  He is wandering for bread -- 'Where [is] it?' He hath known that ready at his hand Is a day of darkness.  

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  Terrify him do adversity and distress, They prevail over him As a king ready for a boaster.  

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  For he stretched out against God his hand, And against the Mighty he maketh himself mighty.  

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  He runneth unto Him with a neck, With thick bosses of his shields.  

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  For he hath covered his face with his fat, And maketh vigour over [his] confidence.  

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  And he inhabiteth cities cut off, houses not dwelt in, That have been ready to become heaps.  

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  He is not rich, nor doth his wealth rise, Nor doth he stretch out on earth their continuance.  

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  He turneth not aside from darkness, His tender branch doth a flame dry up, And he turneth aside at the breath of His mouth!  

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  Let him not put credence in vanity, He hath been deceived, For vanity is his recompence.  

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  Not in his day is it completed, And his bending branch is not green.  

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  He shaketh off as a vine his unripe fruit, And casteth off as an olive his blossom.  

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  For the company of the profane [is] gloomy, And fire hath consumed tents of bribery.  

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  To conceive misery, and to bear iniquity, Even their heart doth prepare deceit.  

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