or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this?
In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.
Does not the ear test words as the palate tastes food?
Wisdom is with the aged, and understanding in length of days.
If he withholds the waters, they dry up; if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land.
With him are strength and sound wisdom; the deceived and the deceiver are his.
He looses the bonds of kings and binds a waistcloth on their hips.
He leads priests away stripped and overthrows the mighty.
He deprives of speech those who are trusted and takes away the discernment of the elders.
He pours contempt on princes and loosens the belt of the strong.
He uncovers the deeps out of darkness and brings deep darkness to light.
He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth and makes them wander in a trackless waste.
They grope in the dark without light, and he makes them stagger like a drunken man.
But I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to argue my case with God.
Hear now my argument and listen to the pleadings of my lips.
Will you show partiality toward him? Will you plead the case for God?
Will not his majesty terrify you, and the dread of him fall upon you?
This will be my salvation, that the godless shall not come before him.
Behold, I have prepared my case; I know that I shall be in the right.
For you write bitter things against me and make me inherit the iniquities of my youth.
You put my feet in the stocks and watch all my paths; you set a limit for the soles of my feet.
Since his days are determined, and the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass,
Though its root grow old in the earth, and its stump die in the soil,
yet at the scent of water it will bud and put out branches like a young plant.
so a man lies down and rises not again; till the heavens are no more he will not awake or be roused out of his sleep.
If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my service I would wait, till my renewal should come.
You would call, and I would answer you; you would long for the work of your hands.
“But the mountain falls and crumbles away, and the rock is removed from its place;
the waters wear away the stones; the torrents wash away the soil of the earth; so you destroy the hope of man.
He feels only the pain of his own body, and he mourns only for himself.”
Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:
“Should a wise man answer with windy knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind?
But you are doing away with the fear of God and hindering meditation before God.
For your iniquity teaches your mouth, and you choose the tongue of the crafty.
“Are you the first man who was born? Or were you brought forth before the hills?
Have you listened in the council of God? And do you limit wisdom to yourself?
Both the gray-haired and the aged are among us, older than your father.
Are the comforts of God too small for you, or the word that deals gently with you?
Behold, God puts no trust in his holy ones, and the heavens are not pure in his sight;
to whom alone the land was given, and no stranger passed among them).
The wicked man writhes in pain all his days, through all the years that are laid up for the ruthless.
Dreadful sounds are in his ears; in prosperity the destroyer will come upon him.
He does not believe that he will return out of darkness, and he is marked for the sword.
Because he has stretched out his hand against God and defies the Almighty,
he will not be rich, and his wealth will not endure, nor will his possessions spread over the earth;
he will not depart from darkness; the flame will dry up his shoots, and by the breath of his mouth he will depart.
He will shake off his unripe grape like the vine, and cast off his blossom like the olive tree.
For the company of the godless is barren, and fire consumes the tents of bribery.
I could strengthen you with my mouth, and the solace of my lips would assuage your pain.
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
ESV® Permanent Text Edition (2016). The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers.
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