[1] Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:
[2] “A wise man wouldn’t answer with such empty talk! You are nothing but a windbag.
[3] The wise don’t engage in empty chatter. What good are such words?
[4] Have you no fear of God, no reverence for him?
[5] Your sins are telling your mouth what to say. Your words are based on clever deception.
[6] Your own mouth condemns you, not I. Your own lips testify against you.
[7] “Were you the first person ever born? Were you born before the hills were made?
[8] Were you listening at God’s secret council? Do you have a monopoly on wisdom?
[9] What do you know that we don’t? What do you understand that we do not?
[10] On 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?
[12] What has taken away your reason? What has weakened your vision,
[13] that you turn against God and say all these evil things?
[14] Can any mortal be pure? Can anyone born of a woman be just?
[15] Look, God does not even trust the angels. Even the heavens are not absolutely pure in his sight.
[16] How much less pure is a corrupt and sinful person with a thirst for wickedness!
[17] “If you will listen, I will show you. I will answer you from my own experience.
[18] And it is confirmed by the reports of wise men who have heard the same thing from their fathers—
[19] from those to whom the land was given long before any foreigners arrived.
[20] “The wicked writhe in pain throughout their lives. Years of trouble are stored up for the ruthless.
[21] The sound of terror rings in their ears, and even on good days they fear the attack of the destroyer.
[22] They dare not go out into the darkness for fear they will be murdered.
[23] They wander around, saying, ‘Where can I find bread?’ They know their day of destruction is near.
[24] That dark day terrifies them. They live in distress and anguish, like a king preparing for battle.
[25] For they shake their fists at God, defying the Almighty.
[26] Holding their strong shields, they defiantly charge against him.
[27] “These wicked people are heavy and prosperous; their waists bulge with fat.
[28] But their cities will be ruined. They will live in abandoned houses that are ready to tumble down.
[29] Their riches will not last, and their wealth will not endure. Their possessions will no longer spread across the horizon.
[30] “They will not escape the darkness. The burning sun will wither their shoots, and the breath of God will destroy them.
[31] Let them no longer fool themselves by trusting in empty riches, for emptiness will be their only reward.
[32] They will be cut down in the prime of life; their branches will never again be green.
[33] They will be like a vine whose grapes are harvested too early, like an olive tree that loses its blossoms before the fruit can form.
[34] For the godless are barren. Their homes, enriched through bribery, will burn.
[35] They conceive trouble and give birth to evil. Their womb produces deceit.”