Job 15:17-35

17 Listen to me and I will inform you. I will describe what I have seen,

18 what was declared by wise men and was not concealed from their fathers,

19 to whom alone the land was given when no foreigner passed among them.

20 A wicked man writhes in pain all his days; only a few years are reserved for the ruthless.

21 Sounds of terror fill his ears; in his prosperity the destroyer attacks him.

22 He despairs of his return from darkness; he is marked for the sword.

23 He wanders about as food for vultures; he knows the day of darkness is at hand.

24 Distress and anguish terrify him, overwhelming him like a king poised to attack.

25 For he has stretched out his hand against God and has vaunted himself against the Almighty,

26 rushing headlong at Him with a thick, studded shield.

27 Though his face is covered with fat and his waistline bulges with flesh,

28 he will dwell in ruined cities, in abandoned houses destined to become rubble.

29 He will no longer be rich; his wealth will not endure. His possessions will not overspread the land.

30 He will not escape from the darkness; the flame will wither his shoots, and the breath of God’s mouth will carry him away.

31 Let him not deceive himself with trust in emptiness, for emptiness will be his reward.

32 It will be paid in full before his time, and his branch will not flourish.

33 He will be like a vine stripped of its unripe grapes, like an olive tree that sheds its blossoms.

34 For the company of the godless will be barren, and fire will consume the tents of bribery.

35 They conceive trouble and give birth to evil; their womb is pregnant with deceit.”

Job 15:17-35 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.