Fluent Translation · Read & Reflect
Job 15
Eliphaz: Does a Wise Man Answer with Wind?
Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:
“Should a wise man answer with knowledge of wind
and fill his belly with the east wind?
Should he argue with a word that does not profit
or with speeches by which he does no good?
Indeed, you break down the fear of God
and diminish meditation before God.
For your guilt teaches your mouth,
and you choose the tongue of the crafty.
Your own mouth condemns you, and not I;
your own lips testify against you.
Were You the First Human Born?
Were you the first human born?
Were you brought forth before the hills?
Have you listened in the council of God?
Do you limit wisdom to yourself?
What do you know that we do not know?
What do you understand that is not with us?
Both the gray-haired and the aged are among us,
older in days than your father.
Are the consolations of God too small for you,
or a word spoken gently with you?
Why does your heart carry you away,
and why do your eyes flash,
that you turn your spirit against God
and bring such words out of your mouth?
What Is a Human That He Should Be Pure?
What is a human that he should be pure,
or one born of woman that he should be righteous?
Look, God does not trust his holy ones,
and the heavens are not pure in his eyes.
How much less one who is abominable and corrupt,
a human who drinks injustice like water!
I Will Tell You What I Have Seen
I will tell you; listen to me.
What I have seen I will recount,
what wise people have declared
and did not hide from their ancestors,
to whom alone the land was given
and no stranger passed among them.
The Wicked Writhes All His Days
The wicked writhes in pain all his days,
and the number of years is hidden from the ruthless.
Sounds of terror are in his ears;
in peace a destroyer comes upon him.
He does not trust that he will return from darkness;
he is destined for the sword.
He wanders for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’
He knows that a day of darkness is ready at his hand.
Distress and anguish terrify him;
they overpower him like a king ready for battle,
because he stretched out his hand against God
and acted defiantly against the Almighty,
running against him with a stiff neck,
with the thick bosses of his shields.
He Will Not Become Rich
For he covered his face with fat
and put fat upon his waist.
He lived in destroyed cities,
in houses where no one should dwell,
which were ready to become ruins.
He will not become rich,
and his wealth will not endure,
and his possessions will not spread over the land.
He will not depart from darkness;
flame will dry up his shoots,
and by the breath of God’s mouth he will depart.
Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself,
for emptiness will be his reward.
It will be completed before his time,
and his branch will not be green.
He will shake off his unripe grape like a vine
and cast off his blossom like an olive tree.
For the company of the godless is barren,
and fire consumes the tents of bribery.
They conceive trouble and give birth to harm,
and their womb prepares deceit.”