1Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said: 2Should a wise man answer with windy knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind? 3Should he reason with speech that is not useful, or with words which do not profit? 4Yea, you cast off fear, and restrain meditation before the Mighty God. 5For your iniquity teaches your mouth, and you choose the tongue of the crafty. 6Your own mouth condemns you, and not I; yea, your own lips testify against you. 7Are you the first man who was born? Or were you made before the hills? 8Have you heard the counsel of God? Do you limit wisdom to yourself? 9What do you know that we do not know? What do you understand that is not in us? 10Both the grayheaded and the aged are among us, much older than your father. 11Are the consolations of the Mighty God of little worth to you? Do you have secret words? 12Why does your heart carry you away, and what do your eyes wink at, 13that you turn your spirit against the Mighty God, and let such words go out of your mouth? 14What is man, that he should be pure? And he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous? 15If God puts no trust in His saints, and the heavens are not pure in His sight; 16how much more abhorrent and corrupt is man, who drinks injustice like water! 17I will tell you; hear me, and what I have seen I will declare, 18what wise men have told, not hiding anything received from their fathers, 19to whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them: 20The wicked man writhes with pain all his days, and the number of years is stored up for the ruthless. 21Dreadful sounds are in his ears; during peace, devastation comes upon him. 22He does not believe that he will return from darkness, for a sword watches for him. 23He wanders about for bread, saying, where is it? He knows that the day of darkness is ready at hand. 24Adversity and distress terrify him; they overpower him, like a king ready for the attack. 25For he stretches out his hand against the Mighty God, and acts defiantly against the Almighty, 26running with stiff neck against Him with his thick, embossed shield. 27He has covered his face with his fatness, and made his waist heavy with fat. 28He dwells in desolate cities, in houses which no one inhabits, which are ready to become heaps. 29He will not be rich, nor will his wealth endure, nor shall his possessions overspread the earth. 30He shall not depart from darkness; the flame shall dry out his branches, and by the breath of His mouth he shall be removed. 31Let not him who wanders about trust in vanity, for vanity shall be his recompense. 32It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be green. 33He will shake off his unripe grape like the vine, and cast off his blossom like the olive. 34For the company of hypocrites shall be barren, and fire will consume the tents of bribery. 35They conceive trouble and bring forth iniquity; their womb prepares deceit.