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 "Do you know the time when the mountain goats give birth? Do you watch when the doe bears fawns?

² Can you number the months that they fulfill? Or do you know the time when they give birth?

³ They bow themselves, they bring forth their young, they end their labor pains.

⁴ Their young ones become strong. They grow up in the open field. They go forth, and don't return again.

⁵ "Who has set the wild donkey free? Or who has loosened the bonds of the swift donkey,

⁶ Whose home I have made the wilderness, and the salt land his dwelling place?

⁷ He scorns the tumult of the city, neither does he hear the shouting of the driver.

⁸ The range of the mountains is his pasture, He searches after every green thing.

⁹ "Will the wild ox be content to serve you? Or will he stay by your feeding trough?

¹⁰ Can you hold the wild ox in the furrow with his harness? Or will he till the valleys after you?

¹¹ Will you trust him, because his strength is great? Or will you leave to him your labor?

¹² Will you confide in him, that he will bring home your seed, and gather the grain of your threshing floor?

¹³ "The wings of the ostrich wave proudly; but are they the feathers and plumage of love?

¹⁴ For she leaves her eggs on the earth, warms them in the dust,

¹⁵ and forgets that the foot may crush them, or that the wild animal may trample them.

¹⁶ She deals harshly with her young ones, as if they were not hers. Though her labor is in vain, she is without fear,

¹⁷ because God has deprived her of wisdom, neither has he imparted to her understanding.

¹⁸ When she lifts up herself on high, she scorns the horse and his rider.

¹⁹ "Have you given the horse might? Have you clothed his neck with a quivering mane?

²⁰ Have you made him to leap as a locust? The glory of his snorting is awesome.

²¹ He paws in the valley, and rejoices in his strength. He goes out to meet the armed men.

²² He mocks at fear, and is not dismayed, neither does he turn back from the sword.

²³ The quiver rattles against him, the flashing spear and the javelin.

²⁴ He eats up the ground with fierceness and rage, neither does he stand still at the sound of the trumpet.

²⁵ As often as the trumpet sounds he snorts, 'Aha!' He smells the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.

²⁶ "Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars, and stretches her wings toward the south?

²⁷ Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up, and makes his nest on high?

²⁸ On the cliff he dwells, and makes his home, on the point of the cliff, and the stronghold.

²⁹ From there he spies out the prey. His eyes see it afar off.

³⁰ His young ones also suck up blood. Where the slain are, there he is."