New Century Version NCV
The Complete Jewish Bible CJB
1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:
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Then Elifaz the Teimani spoke:
2 "A wise person would not answer with empty words or fill his stomach with the hot 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 He would not argue with useless words or make speeches that have no value.
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Should he reason with useless talk or make speeches that do him no good?
4 But you even destroy respect for God and limit the worship of him.
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"Why, you are abolishing fear of God and hindering prayer to him!
5 Your sin teaches your mouth what to say; you use words to trick others.
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Your iniquity is teaching you how to speak, and deceit is your language of choice.
6 It is your own mouth, not mine, that shows you are wicked; your own lips testify against you.
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Your own mouth condemns you, not I; your own lips testify against you.
7 "You are not the first man ever born; you are not older than the hills.
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"Were you the firstborn of the human race, brought forth before the hills?
8 You did not listen in on God's secret council. But you limit wisdom to yourself.
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Do you listen in on God's secrets? Do you limit wisdom to yourself?
9 You don't know any more than we know. You don't understand any more than we understand.
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What do you know that we don't know? What discernment do you have that we don't?
10 Old people with gray hair are on our side; they are even older than your father.
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With us are gray-haired men, old men, men much older than your father.
11 Is the comfort God gives you not enough for you, even when words are spoken gently to you?
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Are the comfortings of God not enough for you, or a word that deals gently with you?
12 Has your heart carried you away from God? Why do your eyes flash with anger?
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Why does your heart carry you away, and why do your eyes flash angrily,
13 Why do you speak out your anger against God? Why do these words pour out of your mouth?
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so that you turn your spirit against God and let such words escape your mouth?
14 "How can anyone be pure? How can someone born to a woman be good?
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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 God places no trust in his holy ones, and even the heavens are not pure in his eyes.
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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 less pure is one who is terrible and rotten and drinks up evil as if it were water!
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How much less one loathesome and corrupt, a human being, who drinks iniquity like water.
17 "Listen to me, and I will tell you about it; I will tell you what I have seen.
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"I will tell you - hear me out! I will recount what I have seen;
18 These are things wise men have told; their fathers told them, and they have hidden nothing.
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wise men have told it, and it wasn't hidden from their fathers either,
19 (The land was given to their fathers only, and no foreigner lived among them.)
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to whom alone the land was given -no foreigner passed among them.
20 The wicked suffer pain all their lives; the cruel suffer during all the years saved up for them.
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"The wicked is in torment all his life, for all the years allotted to the tyrant.
21 Terrible sounds fill their ears, and when things seem to be going well, robbers attack them.
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Terrifying sounds are in his ears; in prosperity, robbers swoop down on him.
22 Evil people give up trying to escape from the darkness; it has been decided that they will die by the sword.
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He despairs of returning from darkness -he is destined to meet the sword.
23 They wander around and will become food for vultures. They know darkness will soon come.
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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 Worry and suffering terrify them; they overwhelm them, like a king ready to attack,
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Distress and anguish overwhelm him, assaulting him like a king about to enter battle.
25 because they shake their fists at God and try to get their own way against the Almighty.
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"He raises his hand against God and boldly defies Shaddai,
26 They stubbornly charge at God with thick, strong shields.
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running against him with head held high and thickly ornamented shield.
27 "Although the faces of the wicked are thick with fat, and their bellies are fat with flesh,
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"He lets his face grow gross and fat, and the rest of him bulges with blubber;
28 they will live in towns that are ruined, in houses where no one lives, which are crumbling into ruins.
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he lives in abandoned cities, in houses no one would inhabit, houses about to become ruins;
29 The wicked will no longer get rich, and the riches they have will not last; the things they own will no longer spread over the land.
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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 They will not escape the darkness. A flame will dry up their branches; God's breath will carry the wicked 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 The wicked should not fool themselves by trusting what is useless. If they do, they will get nothing in return.
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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 Their branches will dry up before they finish growing and will never turn green.
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This will be accomplished in advance of its day. His palm frond will not be fresh and green;
33 They will be like a vine whose grapes are pulled off before they are ripe, like an olive tree that loses its blossoms.
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he will be like a vine that sheds its unripe grapes, like an olive tree that drops its flowers.
34 People without God can produce nothing. Fire will destroy the tents of those who take money to do evil,
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"For the community of the ungodly is sterile; fire consumes the tents of bribery.
35 who plan trouble and give birth to evil, whose hearts plan ways to trick others."
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They conceive trouble and give birth to evil; their womb prepares deceit."
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.