Job 15:1-35 NCV

[1] Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered: [2] "A wise person would not answer with empty words or fill his stomach with the hot east wind. [3] He would not argue with useless words or make speeches that have no value. [4] But you even destroy respect for God and limit the worship of him. [5] Your sin teaches your mouth what to say; you use words to trick others. [6] It is your own mouth, not mine, that shows you are wicked; your own lips testify against you. [7] "You are not the first man ever born; you are not older than the hills. [8] You did not listen in on God's secret council. But you limit wisdom to yourself. [9] You don't know any more than we know. You don't understand any more than we understand. [10] Old people with gray hair are on our side; they are even older than your father. [11] Is the comfort God gives you not enough for you, even when words are spoken gently to you? [12] Has your heart carried you away from God? Why do your eyes flash with anger? [13] Why do you speak out your anger against God? Why do these words pour out of your mouth? [14] "How can anyone be pure? How can someone born to a woman be good? [15] God places no trust in his holy ones, and even the heavens are not pure in his eyes. [16] How much less pure is one who is terrible and rotten and drinks up evil as if it were water! [17] "Listen to me, and I will tell you about it; I will tell you what I have seen. [18] These are things wise men have told; their ancestors told them, and they have hidden nothing. [19] (The land was given to their fathers only, and no foreigner lived among them.) [20] The wicked suffer pain all their lives; the cruel suffer during all the years saved up for them. [21] Terrible sounds fill their ears, and when things seem to be going well, robbers attack them. [22] Evil people give up trying to escape from the darkness; it has been decided that they will die by the sword. [23] They wander around and will become food for vultures. They know darkness will soon come. [24] Worry and suffering terrify them; they overwhelm them, like a king ready to attack, [25] because they shake their fists at God and try to get their own way against the Almighty. [26] They stubbornly charge at God with thick, strong shields. [27] "Although the faces of the wicked are thick with fat, and their bellies are fat with flesh, [28] they will live in towns that are ruined, in houses where no one lives, which are crumbling into ruins. [29] The wicked will no longer get rich, and the riches they have will not last; the things they own will no longer spread over the land. [30] They will not escape the darkness. A flame will dry up their branches; God's breath will carry the wicked away. [31] The wicked should not fool themselves by trusting what is useless. If they do, they will get nothing in return. [32] Their branches will dry up before they finish growing and will never turn green. [33] They will be like a vine whose grapes are pulled off before they are ripe, like an olive tree that loses its blossoms. [34] People without God can produce nothing. Fire will destroy the tents of those who take money to do evil, [35] who plan trouble and give birth to evil, whose hearts plan ways to trick others."