Job 15:23-33

23 He wanders and looks for food, which isn't there. He knows the day of darkness is ready, at hand.
24 Distress and anguish overwhelm him, assaulting him like a king about to enter battle.
25 "He raises his hand against God and boldly defies Shaddai,
26 running against him with head held high and thickly ornamented shield.
27 "He lets his face grow gross and fat, and the rest of him bulges with blubber;
28 he lives in abandoned cities, in houses no one would inhabit, houses about to become ruins;
29 therefore he will not remain rich, his wealth will not endure, his produce will not bend [the grain stalks] to the earth.
30 "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 him not rely on futile methods, thereby deceiving himself; for what he will receive in exchange will be only futility.
32 This will be accomplished in advance of its day. His palm frond will not be fresh and green;
33 he will be like a vine that sheds its unripe grapes, like an olive tree that drops its flowers.

Job 15:23-33 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.

Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.