Job 15:24-34

24 Distress also and anguish shall come upon him: he shall fall as a captain in the first rank.
25 For he has lifted his hands against the Lord, and he has hardened his neck against the Almighty Lord.
26 And he has run against him with insolence, on the thickness of the back of his shield.
27 For he has covered his face with his fat, and made layers of fat upon his thighs.
28 And let him lodge in desolate cities, and enter into houses without inhabitant: and what they have prepared, others shall carry away.
29 Neither shall he at all grow rich, nor shall his substance remain: he shall not cast a shadow upon the earth.
30 Neither shall he in any wise escape the darkness: let the wind blast his blossom, and let his flower fall off.
31 Let him not think that he shall endure; for his end shall be vanity.
32 His harvest shall perish before the time, and his branch shall not flourish.
33 And let him be gathered as the unripe grape before the time, and let him fall as the blossom of the olive.
34 For death is the witness of an ungodly man, and fire shall burn the houses of them that receive gifts.

Job 15:24-34 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.

The Brenton translation of the Septuagint is in the public domain.