Job 15:16-26

16 And we drink evil as if it were water; yes, we are corrupt; we are worthless.
17 Now listen, Job, to what I know.
18 Those who are wise have taught me truths which they learned from their ancestors, and they kept no secrets hidden.
19 Their land was free from foreigners; there was no one to lead them away from God.
20 The wicked who oppress others will be in torment as long as they live.
21 Voices of terror will scream in their ears, and robbers attack when they think they are safe.
22 They have no hope of escaping from darkness, for somewhere a sword is waiting to kill them,
23 and vultures are waiting to eat their corpses. They know their future is dark;
24 disaster, like a powerful king, is waiting to attack them.
25 That is the fate of those who shake their fists at God and defy the Almighty.
26 They are proud and rebellious; they stubbornly hold up their shields and rush to fight against God.

Job 15:16-26 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.

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. [One ancient translation] vultures; [Hebrew] where is he?
  • [b]. [One ancient translation] are waiting; [Hebrew] he wanders.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.