Job 15:11-21

11 "Are 1the consolations of God too small for you, Even the 2word spoken gently with you?
12 "Why does your 3heart carry you away? And why do your eyes flash,
13 That you should turn your spirit against God And allow such words to go out of your mouth?
14 "What is man, that 4he should be pure, Or 5he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
15 "Behold, He puts no trust in His 6holy ones, And the 7heavens are not pure in His sight;
16 How much * less one who is 8detestable and corrupt, Man, who 9drinks iniquity like water!

What Eliphaz Has Seen of Life

17 "I will tell you, listen to me; And what I have seen I will also declare;
18 What wise men have told, And have not concealed from 10their fathers,
19 To whom alone the land was given, And no alien passed among them.
20 "The wicked man writhes 11in pain all his days, And numbered are the years 12stored up for the ruthless.
21 "Sounds of 13terror are in his ears; 14While at peace the destroyer comes upon him.

Job 15:11-21 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JOB 15

Job's three friends having in their turns attacked him, and he having given answer respectively to them, Eliphaz, who began the attack, first enters the debate with him again, and proceeds upon the same plan as before, and endeavours to defend his former sentiments, falling upon Job with greater vehemence and severity; he charges him with vanity, imprudence, and unprofitableness in his talk, and acting a part unbecoming his character as a wise man; yea, with impiety and a neglect of religion, or at least as a discourager of it by his words and doctrines, of which his mouth and lips were witnesses against him, Job 15:1-6; he charges him with arrogance and a high conceit of himself, as if he was the first man that was made, nay, as if he was the eternal wisdom of God, and had been in his council; and, to check his vanity, retorts his own words upon him, or however the sense of them, Job 15:7-10; and also with slighting the consolations of God; upon which he warmly expostulates with him, Job 15:11-13; and in order to convince him of his self-righteousness, which he thought he was full of, he argues from the angels, the heavens, and the general case of man, Job 15:14-16; and then he declares from his own knowledge, and from the relation of wise and ancient men in former times, who made it their observation, that wicked men are afflicted all their days, attended with terror and despair, and liable to various calamities, Job 15:17-24; the reasons of which are their insolence to God, and hostilities committed against him, which they are encouraged in by their prosperous circumstances, Job 15:25-27; notwithstanding all, their estates, riches, and wealth, will come to nothing, Job 15:28-30; and the chapter is closed with an exhortation to such, not to feed themselves up with vain hopes, or trust in uncertain riches, since their destruction would be sure, sudden, and terrible, Job 15:31-35.

Cross References 14

  • 1. Job 5:17-19; Job 36:15, 16
  • 2. Job 6:10; Job 23:12
  • 3. Job 11:13; Job 36:13
  • 4. Job 14:4; Proverbs 20:9; Ecclesiastes 7:20
  • 5. Job 25:4
  • 6. Job 5:1
  • 7. Job 25:5
  • 8. Psalms 14:1
  • 9. Job 34:7; Proverbs 19:28
  • 10. Job 8:8; Job 20:4
  • 11. Job 15:24
  • 12. Job 24:1; Job 27:13
  • 13. Job 15:24; Job 18:11; Job 20:25; Job 24:17; Job 27:20
  • 14. Job 20:21; 1 Thessalonians 5:3

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. Lit "the number of years are"
  • [b]. Lit "A sound of terrors is"
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