Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said,
Should a wise man make answer with {Hebrew: knowledge of wind.}vain knowledge,
And fill himself with the east wind?
Should he reason with unprofitable talk,
Or with speeches wherewith he can do no good?
Yea, thou doest away with fear,
And {Hebrew: diminishest.}hinderest {Or, meditation}devotion before God.
For {Or, thy mouth teacheth thine iniquity}thine iniquity teacheth thy mouth,
And thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.
Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I;
Yea, thine own lips testify against thee.
Art thou the first man that was born?
Or wast thou brought forth before the hills?
{Or, Dost thou harken in the council}Hast thou heard the secret counsel of God?
And dost thou limit wisdom to thyself?
What knowest thou, that we know not?
What understandest thou, which is not in us?
With us are both the grayheaded and the very aged men,
Much elder than thy father.
Are the consolations of God too small for thee,
{Or, Or is there any secret thing with thee?}Even the word that is gentle toward thee?
Why doth thy heart carry thee away?
And why do thine eyes flash,
That against God thou turnest thy spirit,
And lettest words go out of thy mouth?
What is man, that he should be clean?
And he that is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
Behold, he putteth no trust in his holy ones;
Yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight:
How much less {Or, that which is}one that is abominable and corrupt,
A man that drinketh iniquity like water!
I will show thee, hear thou me;
And that which I have seen I will declare
(Which wise men have told
From their fathers, and have not hid it;
Unto whom alone the land was given,
And no stranger passed among them):
The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days,
{Or, And years that are numbered are laid up &c.}Even the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor.
A sound of terrors is in his ears;
In prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him.
He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness,
And he is waited for of the sword.
He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where is it?
He knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.
Distress and anguish make him afraid;
They prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.
Because he hath stretched out his hand against God,
And {Or, biddeth defiance to}behaveth himself proudly against the Almighty;
He runneth upon him with a stiff neck,
{Or, Upon}With the thick bosses of his bucklers;
Because he hath covered his face with his fatness,
And gathered fat upon his loins;
And he hath dwelt in {Hebrew: cut off. }desolate cities,
In houses which no man {Or, would inhabit}inhabited,
Which were ready to become heaps;
He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue,
Neither shall {Or, their produce bend to the earth}their possessions be extended on the earth.
He shall not depart out of darkness;
The flame shall dry up his branches,
And by the breath of {Hebrew: his.}God's mouth shall he go away.
Let him not trust in vanity, deceiving himself;
For vanity shall be his recompense.
It shall be {Or, paid in full.}accomplished before his time,
And his branch shall not be green.
He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine,
And shall cast off his flower as the olive-tree.
For the company of the godless shall be barren,
And fire shall consume the tents of bribery.
They conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity,
And their heart prepareth deceit.
Querverweise zu Hiob 15,13 Hiob 15,13
Because he hath stretched out his hand against God,And {Or, biddeth defiance to}behaveth himself proudly against the Almighty;
He runneth upon him with a stiff neck, {Or, Upon}With the thick bosses of his bucklers;
Because he hath covered his face with his fatness,And gathered fat upon his loins;
Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress,That thou shouldest despise the {Hebrew: labor.}work of thy hands,And shine upon the counsel of the wicked?
He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength:Who hath hardened himself against him, and prospered?—
The tents of robbers prosper,And they that provoke God are secure; {Or, That bring their god to their hand}Into whose hand God bringeth abundantly.
because the mind of the flesh is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be:
Keep thy tongue from evil,And thy lips from speaking guile.
and they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
Your words have been stout against me, saith Jehovah. Yet ye say, What have we spoken against thee?
If any man {Or, seemeth to be}thinketh himself to be religious, while he bridleth not his tongue but deceiveth his heart, this man's religion is vain.
For in many things we all stumble. If any stumbleth not in word, the same is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body also.
Now if we put the horses' bridles into their mouths that they may obey us, we turn about their whole body also.
Behold, the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by rough winds, are yet turned about by a very small rudder, whither the impulse of the steersman willeth.
So the tongue also is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, {Or, how great a forest}how much wood is kindled by how small a fire!
And the tongue is {Or, a fire, that world of iniquity: the tongue is among our members that which &c.}a fire: the {Or, that world of iniquity: the tongue, is among our members that which &c.}world of iniquity among our members is the tongue, which defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the wheel of {Or, birth}nature, and is set on fire by {Greek: Gehenna.}hell.