| Chapter 15 |
1 |
Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said,
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2 |
Should a wise man make answer with vain knowledge, And fill himself with the east wind?
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3 |
Should he reason with unprofitable talk, Or with speeches wherewith he can do no good?
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4 |
Yea, thou doest away with fear, And hinderest devotion before God.
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5 |
For thine iniquity teacheth thy mouth, And thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.
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6 |
Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I; Yea, thine own lips testify against thee.
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7 |
Art thou the first man that was born? Or wast thou brought forth before the hills?
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8 |
Hast thou heard the secret counsel of God? And dost thou limit wisdom to thyself?
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9 |
What knowest thou, that we know not? What understandest thou, which is not in us?
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10 |
With us are both the gray-headed and the very aged men, Much elder than thy father.
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11 |
Are the consolations of God too small for thee, Even the word that is gentle toward thee?
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12 |
Why doth thy heart carry thee away? And why do thine eyes flash,
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13 |
That against God thou turnest thy spirit, And lettest words go out of thy mouth?
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14 |
What is man, that he should be clean? And he that is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
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15 |
Behold, he putteth no trust in his holy ones; Yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight:
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16 |
How much less one that is abominable and corrupt, A man that drinketh iniquity like water!
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17 |
I will show thee, hear thou me; And that which I have seen I will declare:
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18 |
(Which wise men have told From their fathers, and have not hid it;
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19 |
Unto whom alone the land was given, And no stranger passed among them):
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20 |
The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, Even the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor.
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21 |
A sound of terrors is in his ears; In prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him.
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22 |
He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, And he is waited for of the sword.
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23 |
He wandereth abroad for bread, [saying], Where is it? He knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.
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24 |
Distress and anguish make him afraid; They prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.
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25 |
Because he hath stretched out his hand against God, And behaveth himself proudly against the Almighty;
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26 |
He runneth upon him with a [stiff] neck, With the thick bosses of his bucklers;
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27 |
Because he hath covered his face with his fatness, And gathered fat upon his loins;
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28 |
And he hath dwelt in desolate cities, In houses which no man inhabited, Which were ready to become heaps;
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29 |
He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, Neither shall their possessions be extended on the earth.
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30 |
He shall not depart out of darkness; The flame shall dry up his branches, And by the breath of [God's] mouth shall he go away.
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31 |
Let him not trust in vanity, deceiving himself; For vanity shall be his recompense.
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32 |
It shall be accomplished before his time, And his branch shall not be green.
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33 |
He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, And shall cast off his flower as the olive-tree.
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34 |
For the company of the godless shall be barren, And fire shall consume the tents of bribery.
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35 |
They conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity, And their heart prepareth deceit.
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