King James Version KJV
The Complete Jewish Bible CJB
1 Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said,
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Then Elifaz the Teimani spoke:
2 Should a wise man utter vain knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind?
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"Should a wise man answer with hot-air arguments? Should he fill up his belly with the hot east wind?
3 Should he reason with unprofitable talk? or with speeches wherewith he can do no good?
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Should he reason with useless talk or make speeches that do him no good?
4 Yea, thou castest off fear, and restrainest prayer before God.
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"Why, you are abolishing fear of God and hindering prayer to him!
5 For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.
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Your iniquity is teaching you how to speak, and deceit is your language of choice.
6 Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I: yea, thine own lips testify against thee.
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Your own mouth condemns you, not I; your own lips testify against you.
7 Art thou the first man that was born? or wast thou made before the hills?
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"Were you the firstborn of the human race, brought forth before the hills?
8 Hast thou heard the secret of God? and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself?
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Do you listen in on God's secrets? Do you limit wisdom to yourself?
9 What knowest thou, that we know not? what understandest thou, which is not in us?
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What do you know that we don't know? What discernment do you have that we don't?
10 With us are both the grayheaded and very aged men, much elder than thy father.
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With us are gray-haired men, old men, men much older than your father.
11 Are the consolations of God small with thee? is there any secret thing with thee?
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Are the comfortings of God not enough for you, or a word that deals gently with you?
12 Why doth thine heart carry thee away? and what do thy eyes wink at,
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Why does your heart carry you away, and why do your eyes flash angrily,
13 That thou turnest thy spirit against God, and lettest such words go out of thy mouth?
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so that you turn your spirit against God and let such words escape your mouth?
14 What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
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"What is a human being, that he could be innocent, someone born from a woman, that he could be righteous?
15 Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight.
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God doesn't trust even his holy ones; no, even the heavens are not innocent in his view.
16 How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water?
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How much less one loathesome and corrupt, a human being, who drinks iniquity like water.
17 I will shew thee, hear me; and that which I have seen I will declare;
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"I will tell you - hear me out! I will recount what I have seen;
18 Which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hid it:
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wise men have told it, and it wasn't hidden from their fathers either,
19 Unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them.
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to whom alone the land was given -no foreigner passed among them.
20 The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor.
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"The wicked is in torment all his life, for all the years allotted to the tyrant.
21 A dreadful sound is in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him.
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Terrifying sounds are in his ears; in prosperity, robbers swoop down on him.
22 He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for of the sword.
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He despairs of returning from darkness -he is destined to meet the sword.
23 He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where is it? he knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.
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He wanders and looks for food, which isn't there. He knows the day of darkness is ready, at hand.
24 Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid; they shall prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.
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Distress and anguish overwhelm him, assaulting him like a king about to enter battle.
25 For he stretcheth out his hand against God, and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty.
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"He raises his hand against God and boldly defies Shaddai,
26 He runneth upon him, even on his neck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers:
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running against him with head held high and thickly ornamented shield.
27 Because he covereth his face with his fatness, and maketh collops of fat on his flanks.
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"He lets his face grow gross and fat, and the rest of him bulges with blubber;
28 And he dwelleth in desolate cities, and in houses which no man inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps.
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he lives in abandoned cities, in houses no one would inhabit, houses about to become ruins;
29 He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth.
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therefore he will not remain rich, his wealth will not endure, his produce will not bend [the grain stalks] to the earth.
30 He shall not depart out of darkness; the flame shall dry up his branches, and by the breath of his mouth shall he go away.
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"He will not escape from darkness. The flame will dry up his branches. By a breath from the mouth of [God], he will go away.
31 Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity: for vanity shall be his recompence.
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Let him not rely on futile methods, thereby deceiving himself; for what he will receive in exchange will be only futility.
32 It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be green.
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This will be accomplished in advance of its day. His palm frond will not be fresh and green;
33 He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive.
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he will be like a vine that sheds its unripe grapes, like an olive tree that drops its flowers.
34 For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery.
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"For the community of the ungodly is sterile; fire consumes the tents of bribery.
35 They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth deceit.
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They conceive trouble and give birth to evil; their womb prepares deceit."