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The waters wear the stones. The torrents of it wash away the dust of the earth. So you destroy the hope of man.

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You forever prevail against him, and he departs. You change his face, and send him away.

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His sons come to honor, and he doesn’t know it. They are brought low, but he doesn’t perceive it of them.

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But his flesh on him has pain, and his soul within him mourns.”

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Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered,

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“Should a wise man answer with vain knowledge, and fill himself with the east wind?

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Should he reason with unprofitable talk, or with speeches with which he can do no good?

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Yes, you do away with fear, and hinder devotion before God.

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For your iniquity teaches your mouth, and you choose the language of the crafty.

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Your own mouth condemns you, and not I. Yes, your own lips testify against you.

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“Are you the first man who was born? Or were you brought forth before the hills?

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Have you heard the secret counsel of God? Do you limit wisdom to yourself?

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What do you know, that we don’t know? What do you understand, which is not in us?

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With us are both the gray-headed and the very aged men, much elder than your father.

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Are the consolations of God too small for you, even the word that is gentle toward you?

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Why does your heart carry you away? Why do your eyes flash,

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That you turn your spirit against God, and let such words go out of your mouth?

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What is man, that he should be clean? What is he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?

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Behold, he puts no trust in his holy ones. Yes, the heavens are not clean in his sight;

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how much less one who is abominable and corrupt, a man who drinks iniquity like water!

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“I will show you, listen to me; that which I have seen I will declare:

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(Which wise men have told by their fathers, and have not hidden it;

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to whom alone the land was given, and no stranger passed among them):

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the wicked man writhes in pain all his days, even the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor.

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A sound of terrors is in his ears. In prosperity the destroyer shall come on him.

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He doesn’t believe that he shall return out of darkness. He is waited for by the sword.

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He wanders abroad for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’ He knows that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.

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Distress and anguish make him afraid. They prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.

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Because he has stretched out his hand against God, and behaves himself proudly against the Almighty;

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he runs at him with a stiff neck, with the thick shields of his bucklers;

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because he has covered his face with his fatness, and gathered fat on his thighs.

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He has lived in desolate cities, in houses which no one inhabited, which were ready to become heaps.

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He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall their possessions be extended on the earth.

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He shall not depart out of darkness. The flame shall dry up his branches. By the breath of God’s mouth shall he go away.

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Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself; for emptiness shall be his reward.

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It shall be accomplished before his time. His branch shall not be green.

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

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For the company of the godless shall be barren, and fire shall consume the tents of bribery.

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They conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity. Their heart prepares deceit.”

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Then Job answered,

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“I have heard many such things. You are all miserable comforters!

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Shall vain words have an end? Or what provokes you that you answer?

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I also could speak as you do. If your soul were in my soul’s place, I could join words together against you, and shake my head at you,

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but I would strengthen you with my mouth. The solace of my lips would relieve you.

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“Though I speak, my grief is not subsided. Though I forbear, what am I eased?

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But now, God, you have surely worn me out. You have made desolate all my company.

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You have shriveled me up. This is a witness against me. My leanness rises up against me. It testifies to my face.

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He has torn me in his wrath, and persecuted me. He has gnashed on me with his teeth. My adversary sharpens his eyes on me.

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They have gaped on me with their mouth. They have struck me on the cheek reproachfully. They gather themselves together against me.

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God delivers me to the ungodly, and casts me into the hands of the wicked.

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I was at ease, and he broke me apart. Yes, he has taken me by the neck, and dashed me to pieces. He has also set me up for his target.

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His archers surround me. He splits my kidneys apart, and does not spare. He pours out my gall on the ground.

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He breaks me with breach on breach. He runs on me like a giant.

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I have sewed sackcloth on my skin, and have thrust my horn in the dust.

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My face is red with weeping. Deep darkness is on my eyelids.

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Although there is no violence in my hands, and my prayer is pure.

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“Earth, don’t cover my blood. Let my cry have no place to rest.

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Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven. He who vouches for me is on high.

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My friends scoff at me. My eyes pour out tears to God,

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that he would maintain the right of a man with God, of a son of man with his neighbor!

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For when a few years are come, I shall go the way of no return.

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“My spirit is consumed. My days are extinct, And the grave is ready for me.

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Surely there are mockers with me. My eye dwells on their provocation.

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“Now give a pledge, be collateral for me with yourself. Who is there who will strike hands with me?

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For you have hidden their heart from understanding, Therefore you shall not exalt them.

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He who denounces his friends for a prey, Even the eyes of his children shall fail.

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“But he has made me a byword of the people. They spit in my face.

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My eye also is dim by reason of sorrow. All my members are as a shadow.

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Upright men shall be astonished at this. The innocent shall stir up himself against the godless.

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Yet shall the righteous hold on his way. He who has clean hands shall grow stronger and stronger.

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But as for you all, come on now again; I shall not find a wise man among you.

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My days are past, my plans are broken off, as are the thoughts of my heart.

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They change the night into day, saying ‘The light is near’ in the presence of darkness.

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If I look for Sheol as my house, if I have spread my couch in the darkness,

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If I have said to corruption, ‘You are my father;’ to the worm, ‘My mother,’ and ‘my sister;’

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where then is my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it?

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Shall it go down with me to the gates of Sheol, or descend together into the dust?”

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Then Bildad the Shuhite answered,

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“How long will you hunt for words? Consider, and afterwards we will speak.

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Why are we counted as animals, which have become unclean in your sight?

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You who tear yourself in your anger, shall the earth be forsaken for you? Or shall the rock be removed out of its place?

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“Yes, the light of the wicked shall be put out, The spark of his fire shall not shine.

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The light shall be dark in his tent. His lamp above him shall be put out.

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The steps of his strength shall be shortened. His own counsel shall cast him down.

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For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he wanders into its mesh.

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A snare will take him by the heel. A trap will catch him.

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A noose is hidden for him in the ground, a trap for him in the way.

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Terrors shall make him afraid on every side, and shall chase him at his heels.

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His strength shall be famished. Calamity shall be ready at his side.

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The members of his body shall be devoured. The firstborn of death shall devour his members.

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He shall be rooted out of his tent where he trusts. He shall be brought to the king of terrors.

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There shall dwell in his tent that which is none of his. Sulfur shall be scattered on his habitation.

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His roots shall be dried up beneath. Above shall his branch be cut off.

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His memory shall perish from the earth. He shall have no name in the street.

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He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world.

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He shall have neither son nor grandson among his people, nor any remaining where he lived.

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Those who come after shall be astonished at his day, as those who went before were frightened.

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Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous. This is the place of him who doesn’t know God.”

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Then Job answered,

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“How long will you torment me, and crush me with words?