[1] Then Eliphaz from Teman answered Job:
[2] “Job, if you were really wise, you wouldn't answer with your worthless personal opinions! A wise man would not be so full of hot air.
[3] Do you think a wise man would argue with worthless words and with speeches that mean nothing?
[4] Job, if you had your way, no person would respect God and pray to him.
[5] The things you say clearly show your sin. Job, you are trying to hide your sin by using clever words.
[6] I don’t need to prove to you that you are wrong. Why? The things you say with your own mouth show that you are wrong. Your own lips speak against you.
[7] “Job, do you think you were the first person ever to be born? Were you born before the hills?
[8] Did you listen to God’s secret plans? Do you think you are the only wise person?
[9] Job, we know more than you do! We understand things that you don’t.
[10] The gray-haired men and the old people agree with us. Yes, even people older than your father are on our side.
[11] God tries to comfort you, but that is not enough for you. We have spoken God’s message to you in a gentle way.
[12] Job, why won’t you understand? Why can’t you see the truth?
[13] You are against God when you say these angry words.
[14] “A man can’t really be pure. A person can’t be more right than God!
[15] God doesn’t even trust his angels. Compared to God even the heavens are not pure.
[16] Man is even worse. Man is dirty and ruined. He drinks up evil like water.
[17] “Listen to me Job, and I will explain it to you. I will tell you what I know.
[18] I will tell you the things wise men have told me. The wise men’s ancestors told them these things. They didn’t hide any secrets from me.
[19] They alone lived in their country. There were no foreigners passing through. ˻So no person told them strange ideas.˼
[20] ˻These wise people said,˼ An evil person suffers all his life. A cruel person suffers all his numbered years.
[21] Every noise scares him. His enemy will attack him when he thinks he is safe.
[22] The evil person is very frustrated, and there is no hope for him to escape the darkness. There is a sword somewhere that is waiting to kill him.
[23] He wanders here and there, but his body will be food for the vultures. He knows that his death is very near.
[24] Worry and suffering make him afraid. These things attack him like a king ready to destroy him.
[25] Why? Because the evil person refuses to obey God— He shakes his fist at God, and tries to defeat God All-Powerful.
[26] That evil person is very stubborn. He tries to attack God with a thick, strong shield.
[27] “A person might be rich and fat
[28] but his town will be ruined, his home will be destroyed, his house will be empty.
[29] The evil person won’t be rich for long. His wealth won’t last. His crops won’t grow large.
[30] The evil person won’t escape the darkness. He will be like a tree whose leaves die from disease and a wind blows them all away.
[31] The evil person should not fool himself when he trusts worthless things. Why? He will get nothing.
[32] Before his life is over, the evil person will be old and dried up. He will be like a dried branch, never to be green again.
[33] The evil person will be like a vine that loses its grapes before they ripen. That person will be like an olive tree that loses its buds.
[34] Why? Because people without God have nothing. People who love money will have their homes destroyed by fire.
[35] Evil people are always planning ways to do evil and cause trouble. They are always planning ways to cheat people.”