Dual Panel1Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:
2"You are supposed to be a wise man, and yet you give us all this foolish talk. You are nothing but a windbag.
3It isn’t right to speak so foolishly. What good do such words do?
4Have you no fear of God, no reverence for him?
5Your sins are telling your mouth what to say. Your words are based on clever deception.
6But why should I condemn you? Your own mouth does!
7"Were you the first person ever born? Were you born before the hills were made?
8Were you listening at God’s secret council? Do you have a monopoly on wisdom?
9What do you know that we don’t? What do you understand that we don’t?
10On our side are aged, gray–haired men much older than your father!
11"Is God’s comfort too little for you? Is his gentle word not enough?
12What has captured your reason? What has weakened your vision,
13that you turn against God and say all these evil things?
14Can a mortal be pure? Can a human be just?
15Why, God doesn’t even trust the angels! Even the heavens cannot be absolutely pure in his sight.
16How much less pure is a corrupt and sinful person with a thirst for wickedness!
17"If you will listen, I will answer you from my own experience.
18And it is confirmed by the experience of wise men who have heard the same thing from their fathers,
19those to whom the land was given long before any foreigners arrived.
20"Wicked people are in pain throughout their lives.
21They are surrounded by terrors, and even on good days they fear the attack of the destroyer.
22They dare not go out into the darkness for fear they will be murdered.
23They wander abroad for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’ They know their ruin is certain.
24That dark day terrifies them. They live in distress and anguish, like a king preparing for an attack.
25For they have clenched their fists against God, defying the Almighty.
26Holding their strong shields, they defiantly charge against him.
27"These wicked people are fat and rich,
28but their cities will be ruined. They will live in abandoned houses that are ready to tumble down.
29They will not continue to be rich. Their wealth will not endure, and their possessions will no longer spread across the horizon.
30"They will not escape the darkness. The flame will burn them up, and the breath of God will destroy everything they have.
31Let them no longer trust in empty riches. They are only fooling themselves, for emptiness will be their only reward.
32They will be cut down in the prime of life, and all they counted on will disappear.
33They will be like a vine whose grapes are harvested before they are ripe, like an olive tree that sheds its blossoms so the fruit cannot form.
34For the godless are barren. Their homes, enriched through bribery, will be consumed by fire.
35They conceive trouble and evil, and their hearts give birth only to deceit."