New Living Translation | New International Version |
1Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied: | 1Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied: |
2“A wise man wouldn’t answer with such empty talk! You are nothing but a windbag. | 2"Would a wise person answer with empty notions or fill their belly with the hot east wind? |
3The wise don’t engage in empty chatter. What good are such words? | 3Would they argue with useless words, with speeches that have no value? |
4Have you no fear of God, no reverence for him? | 4But you even undermine piety and hinder devotion to God. |
5Your sins are telling your mouth what to say. Your words are based on clever deception. | 5Your sin prompts your mouth; you adopt the tongue of the crafty. |
6Your own mouth condemns you, not I. Your own lips testify against you. | 6Your own mouth condemns you, not mine; 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 ever born? Were you brought forth before the hills? |
8Were you listening at God’s secret council? Do you have a monopoly on wisdom? | 8Do you listen in on God's council? Do you have a monopoly on wisdom? |
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 insights do you have that we do not have? |
10On our side are aged, gray-haired men much older than your father! | 10The gray-haired and the aged are on our side, men even older than your father. |
11“Is God’s comfort too little for you? Is his gentle word not enough? | 11Are God's consolations not enough for you, words spoken gently to you? |
12What has taken away your reason? What has weakened your vision, | 12Why has your heart carried you away, and why do your eyes flash, |
13that you turn against God and say all these evil things? | 13so that you vent your rage against God and pour out such words from your mouth? |
14Can any mortal be pure? Can anyone born of a woman be just? | 14"What are mortals, that they could be pure, or those born of woman, that they could be righteous? |
15Look, God does not even trust the angels. Even the heavens are not absolutely pure in his sight. | 15If God places no trust in his holy ones, if even the heavens are not pure in his eyes, |
16How much less pure is a corrupt and sinful person with a thirst for wickedness! | 16how much less mortals, who are vile and corrupt, who drink up evil like water! |
17“If you will listen, I will show you. I will answer you from my own experience. | 17"Listen to me and I will explain to you; let me tell you what I have seen, |
18And it is confirmed by the reports of wise men who have heard the same thing from their fathers— | 18what the wise have declared, hiding nothing received from their ancestors |
19from those to whom the land was given long before any foreigners arrived. | 19(to whom alone the land was given when no foreigners moved among them): |
20“The wicked writhe in pain throughout their lives. Years of trouble are stored up for the ruthless. | 20All his days the wicked man suffers torment, the ruthless man through all the years stored up for him. |
21The sound of terror rings in their ears, and even on good days they fear the attack of the destroyer. | 21Terrifying sounds fill his ears; when all seems well, marauders attack him. |
22They dare not go out into the darkness for fear they will be murdered. | 22He despairs of escaping the realm of darkness; 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 about for food like a vulture; he knows the day of darkness is at hand. |
24That dark day terrifies them. They live in distress and anguish, like a king preparing for battle. | 24Distress and anguish fill him with terror; troubles overwhelm him, like a king poised to attack, |
25For they shake their fists at God, defying the Almighty. | 25because he shakes his fist at God and vaunts himself against the Almighty, |
26Holding their strong shields, they defiantly charge against him. | 26defiantly charging against him with a thick, strong shield. |
27“These wicked people are heavy and prosperous; their waists bulge with fat. | 27"Though his face is covered with fat and his waist bulges with flesh, |
28But their cities will be ruined. They will live in abandoned houses that are ready to tumble down. | 28he will inhabit ruined towns and houses where no one lives, houses crumbling to rubble. |
29Their riches will not last, and their wealth will not endure. Their possessions will no longer spread across the horizon. | 29He will no longer be rich and his wealth will not endure, nor will his possessions spread over the land. |
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 escape the darkness; a flame will wither his shoots, and the breath of God's mouth will carry him away. |
31Let them no longer fool themselves by trusting in empty riches, for emptiness will be their only reward. | 31Let him not deceive himself by trusting what is worthless, for he will get nothing in return. |
32They will be cut down in the prime of life; their branches will never again be green. | 32Before his time he will wither, and his branches will not flourish. |
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 be like a vine stripped of its unripe grapes, like an olive tree shedding its blossoms. |
34For the godless are barren. Their homes, enriched through bribery, will burn. | 34For the company of the godless will be barren, and fire will consume the tents of those who love bribes. |
35They conceive trouble and give birth to evil. Their womb produces deceit.” | 35They conceive trouble and give birth to evil; their womb fashions 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. | New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. |
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