¹ Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said,

² Should a wise man utter vain knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind?

³ Should he reason with unprofitable talk? or with speeches wherewith he can do no good?

⁴ Yea, thou castest off fear, and restrainest prayer before God.

⁵ For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.

⁶ Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I: yea, thine own lips testify against thee.

⁷ Art thou the first man that was born? or wast thou made before the hills?

⁸ Hast thou heard the secret of God? and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself?

⁹ What knowest thou, that we know not? what understandest thou, which is not in us?

¹⁰ With us are both the grayheaded and very aged men, much elder than thy father.

¹¹ Are the consolations of God small with thee? is there any secret thing with thee?

¹² Why doth thine heart carry thee away? and what do thy eyes wink at,

¹³ That thou turnest thy spirit against God, and lettest such words go out of thy mouth?

¹⁴ What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?

¹⁵ Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight.

¹⁶ How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water?

¹⁷ I will shew thee, hear me; and that which I have seen I will declare;

¹⁸ Which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hid it:

¹⁹ Unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them.

²⁰ The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor.

²¹ A dreadful sound is in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him.

²² He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for of the sword.

²³ He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where is it? he knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.

²⁴ Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid; they shall prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.

²⁵ For he stretcheth out his hand against God, and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty.

²⁶ He runneth upon him, even on his neck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers:

²⁷ Because he covereth his face with his fatness, and maketh collops of fat on his flanks.

²⁸ And he dwelleth in desolate cities, and in houses which no man inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps.

²⁹ He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth.

³⁰ 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.

³¹ Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity: for vanity shall be his recompence.

³² It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be green.

³³ He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive.

³⁴ For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery.

³⁵ They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth deceit.

¹ Then Yahweh answered Job out of the whirlwind,

² "Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?

³ Brace yourself like a man, for I will question you, then you answer me!

⁴ "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if you have understanding.

⁵ Who determined its measures, if you know? Or who stretched the line on it?

⁶ Whereupon were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone,

⁷ when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

⁸ "Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke forth from the womb,

⁹ when I made clouds its garment, and wrapped it in thick darkness,

¹⁰ marked out for it my bound, set bars and doors,

¹¹ and said, 'Here you may come, but no further. Here your proud waves shall be stayed?'

¹² "Have you commanded the morning in your days, and caused the dawn to know its place;

¹³ that it might take hold of the ends of the earth, and shake the wicked out of it?

¹⁴ It is changed as clay under the seal, and stands forth as a garment.

¹⁵ From the wicked, their light is withheld. The high arm is broken.

¹⁶ "Have you entered into the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in the recesses of the deep?

¹⁷ Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?

¹⁸ Have you comprehended the earth in its breadth? Declare, if you know it all.

¹⁹ "What is the way to the dwelling of light? As for darkness, where is its place,

²⁰ that you should take it to its bound, that you should discern the paths to its house?

²¹ Surely you know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great!

²² Have you entered the treasuries of the snow, or have you seen the treasures of the hail,

²³ which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?

²⁴ By what way is the lightning distributed, or the east wind scattered on the earth?

²⁵ Who has cut a channel for the flood water, or the path for the thunderstorm;

²⁶ To cause it to rain on a land where no man is; on the wilderness, in which there is no man;

²⁷ to satisfy the waste and desolate ground, to cause the tender grass to spring forth?

²⁸ Does the rain have a father? Or who fathers the drops of dew?

²⁹ Out of whose womb came the ice? The gray frost of the sky, who has given birth to it?

³⁰ The waters become hard like stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen.

³¹ "Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades, or loosen the cords of Orion?

³² Can you lead forth the constellations in their season? Or can you guide the Bear with her cubs?

³³ Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you establish its dominion over the earth?

³⁴ "Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, That abundance of waters may cover you?

³⁵ Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go? Do they report to you, 'Here we are?'

³⁶ Who has put wisdom in the inward parts? Or who has given understanding to the mind?

³⁷ Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can pour out the bottles of the sky,

³⁸ when the dust runs into a mass, and the clods of earth stick together?

³⁹ "Can you hunt the prey for the lioness, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,

⁴⁰ when they crouch in their dens, and lie in wait in the thicket?

⁴¹ Who provides for the raven his prey, when his young ones cry to God, and wander for lack of food?