New International Version NIV
Young's Literal Translation YLT
1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:
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And Eliphaz the Temanite answereth and saith: --
2 “Would a wise person answer with empty notions or fill their belly with the hot east wind?
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Doth a wise man answer [with] vain knowledge? And fill [with] an east wind his belly?
3 Would they argue with useless words, with speeches that have no value?
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To reason with a word not useful? And speeches -- no profit in them?
4 But you even undermine piety and hinder devotion to God.
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Yea, thou dost make reverence void, And dost diminish meditation before God.
5 Your sin prompts your mouth; you adopt the tongue of the crafty.
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For thy mouth teacheth thine iniquity, And thou chooseth the tongue of the subtile.
6 Your own mouth condemns you, not mine; your own lips testify against you.
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Thy mouth declareth thee wicked, and not I, And thy lips testify against thee.
7 “Are you the first man ever born? Were you brought forth before the hills?
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The first man art thou born? And before the heights wast thou formed?
8 Do you listen in on God’s council? Do you have a monopoly on wisdom?
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Of the secret counsel of God dost thou hear? And withdrawest thou unto thee wisdom?
9 What do you know that we do not know? What insights do you have that we do not have?
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What hast thou known, and we know not? Understandest thou -- and it is not with us?
10 The gray-haired and the aged are on our side, men even older than your father.
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Both the gray-headed And the very aged [are] among us -- Greater than thy father [in] days.
11 Are God’s consolations not enough for you, words spoken gently to you?
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Too few for thee are the comforts of God? And a gentle word [is] with thee,
12 Why has your heart carried you away, and why do your eyes flash,
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What -- doth thine heart take thee away? And what -- are thine eyes high?
13 so that you vent your rage against God and pour out such words from your mouth?
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For thou turnest against God thy spirit? And hast brought out words from thy mouth:
14 “What are mortals, that they could be pure, or those born of woman, that they could be righteous?
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What [is] man that he is pure, And that he is righteous, one born of woman?
15 If God places no trust in his holy ones, if even the heavens are not pure in his eyes,
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Lo, in His holy ones He putteth no credence, And the heavens have not been pure in His eyes.
16 how much less mortals, who are vile and corrupt, who drink up evil like water!
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Also -- surely abominable and filthy Is man drinking as water perverseness.
17 “Listen to me and I will explain to you; let me tell you what I have seen,
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I shew thee -- hearken to me -- And this I have seen and declare:
18 what the wise have declared, hiding nothing received from their ancestors
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Which the wise declare -- And have not hid -- from their fathers.
19 (to whom alone the land was given when no foreigners moved among them):
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To them alone was the land given, And a stranger passed not over into their midst:
20 All his days the wicked man suffers torment, the ruthless man through all the years stored up for him.
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`All days of the wicked he is paining himself, And few years have been laid up for the terrible one.
21 Terrifying sounds fill his ears; when all seems well, marauders attack him.
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A fearful voice [is] in his ears, In peace doth a destroyer come to him.
22 He despairs of escaping the realm of darkness; he is marked for the sword.
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He believeth not to return from darkness, And watched [is] he for the sword.
23 He wanders about for food like a vulture; he knows the day of darkness is at hand.
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He is wandering for bread -- `Where [is] it?' He hath known that ready at his hand Is a day of darkness.
24 Distress and anguish fill him with terror; troubles overwhelm him, like a king poised to attack,
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Terrify him do adversity and distress, They prevail over him As a king ready for a boaster.
25 because he shakes his fist at God and vaunts himself against the Almighty,
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For he stretched out against God his hand, And against the Mighty he maketh himself mighty.
26 defiantly charging against him with a thick, strong shield.
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He runneth unto Him with a neck, With thick bosses of his shields.
27 “Though his face is covered with fat and his waist bulges with flesh,
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For he hath covered his face with his fat, And maketh vigour over [his] confidence.
28 he will inhabit ruined towns and houses where no one lives, houses crumbling to rubble.
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And he inhabiteth cities cut off, houses not dwelt in, That have been ready to become heaps.
29 He will no longer be rich and his wealth will not endure, nor will his possessions spread over the land.
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He is not rich, nor doth his wealth rise, Nor doth he stretch out on earth their continuance.
30 He will not escape the darkness; a flame will wither his shoots, and the breath of God’s mouth will carry him away.
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He turneth not aside from darkness, His tender branch doth a flame dry up, And he turneth aside at the breath of His mouth!
31 Let him not deceive himself by trusting what is worthless, for he will get nothing in return.
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Let him not put credence in vanity, He hath been deceived, For vanity is his recompence.
32 Before his time he will wither, and his branches will not flourish.
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Not in his day is it completed, And his bending branch is not green.
33 He will be like a vine stripped of its unripe grapes, like an olive tree shedding its blossoms.
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He shaketh off as a vine his unripe fruit, And casteth off as an olive his blossom.
34 For the company of the godless will be barren, and fire will consume the tents of those who love bribes.
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For the company of the profane [is] gloomy, And fire hath consumed tents of bribery.
35 They conceive trouble and give birth to evil; their womb fashions deceit.”
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To conceive misery, and to bear iniquity, Even their heart doth prepare deceit.
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.
Young's Literal Translation is in the public domain.