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- Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:
- "Would a wise man answer with empty notions or fill his belly with the hot east wind?
- Would he argue with useless words, with speeches that have no value?
- But you even undermine piety and hinder devotion to God.
- Your sin prompts your mouth; you adopt the tongue of the crafty.
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- Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said,
- Should a wise man utter vain knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind?
- Should he reason with unprofitable talk? or with speeches wherewith he can do no good?
- Yea, thou castest off fear, and restrainest prayer before God.
- For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.
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- Your own mouth condemns you, not mine; your own lips testify against you.
- "Are you the first man ever born? Were you brought forth before the hills?
- Do you listen in on God's council? Do you limit wisdom to yourself?
- What do you know that we do not know? What insights do you have that we do not have?
- The gray-haired and the aged are on our side, men even older than your father.
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- Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I: yea, thine own lips testify against thee.
- Art thou the first man that was born? or wast thou made before the hills?
- Hast thou heard the secret of God? and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself?
- What knowest thou, that we know not? what understandest thou, which is not in us?
- With us are both the grayheaded and very aged men, much elder than thy father.
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- Are God's consolations not enough for you, words spoken gently to you?
- Why has your heart carried you away, and why do your eyes flash,
- so that you vent your rage against God and pour out such words from your mouth?
- "What is man, that he could be pure, or one born of woman, that he could be righteous?
- If God places no trust in his holy ones, if even the heavens are not pure in his eyes,
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- Are the consolations of God small with thee? is there any secret thing with thee?
- Why doth thine heart carry thee away? and what do thy eyes wink at,
- That thou turnest thy spirit against God, and lettest such words go out of thy mouth?
- What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
- Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight.
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- how much less man, who is vile and corrupt, who drinks up evil like water!
- "Listen to me and I will explain to you; let me tell you what I have seen,
- what wise men have declared, hiding nothing received from their fathers
- (to whom alone the land was given when no alien passed among them):
- All his days the wicked man suffers torment, the ruthless through all the years stored up for him.
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- How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water?
- I will shew thee, hear me; and that which I have seen I will declare;
- Which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hid it:
- Unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them.
- The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor.
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- Terrifying sounds fill his ears; when all seems well, marauders attack him.
- He despairs of escaping the darkness; he is marked for the sword.
- He wanders about--food for vultures ; he knows the day of darkness is at hand.
- Distress and anguish fill him with terror; they overwhelm him, like a king poised to attack,
- because he shakes his fist at God and vaunts himself against the Almighty,
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- A dreadful sound is in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him.
- He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for of the sword.
- He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where is it? he knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.
- Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid; they shall prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.
- For he stretcheth out his hand against God, and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty.
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- defiantly charging against him with a thick, strong shield.
- "Though his face is covered with fat and his waist bulges with flesh,
- he will inhabit ruined towns and houses where no one lives, houses crumbling to rubble.
- He will no longer be rich and his wealth will not endure, nor will his possessions spread over the land.
- He will not escape the darkness; a flame will wither his shoots, and the breath of God's mouth will carry him away.
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- He runneth upon him, even on his neck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers:
- Because he covereth his face with his fatness, and maketh collops of fat on his flanks.
- And he dwelleth in desolate cities, and in houses which no man inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps.
- He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth.
- He shall not depart out of darkness; the flame shall dry up his branches, and by the breath of his mouth shall he go away.
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- Let him not deceive himself by trusting what is worthless, for he will get nothing in return.
- Before his time he will be paid in full, and his branches will not flourish.
- He will be like a vine stripped of its unripe grapes, like an olive tree shedding its blossoms.
- For the company of the godless will be barren, and fire will consume the tents of those who love bribes.
- They conceive trouble and give birth to evil; their womb fashions deceit."
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- Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity: for vanity shall be his recompence.
- It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be green.
- He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive.
- For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery.
- They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth deceit.
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