In the fullness of his sufficiency he will be in distress; the hand of everyone in misery will come against him.
To fill his belly to the full, God will send his burning anger against him and rain it upon him into his body.
It is drawn forth and comes out of his body; the glittering point comes out of his gallbladder; terrors come upon him.
The heavens will reveal his iniquity, and the earth will rise up against him.
The possessions of his house will be carried away, dragged off in the day of God's wrath.
This is the wicked man's portion from God, the heritage decreed for him by God.”
Why do the wicked live, reach old age, and grow mighty in power?
They sing to the tambourine and the lyre and rejoice to the sound of the pipe.
They say to God, ‘Depart from us! We do not desire the knowledge of your ways.
What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? And what profit do we get if we pray to him?’
Behold, is not their prosperity in their hand? The counsel of the wicked is far from me.
“How often is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out? That their calamity comes upon them? That God distributes pains in his anger?
That they are like straw before the wind, and like chaff that the storm carries away?
Let their own eyes see their destruction, and let them drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
For what do they care for their houses after them, when the number of their months is cut off?
his pails full of milk and the marrow of his bones moist.
They lie down alike in the dust, and the worms cover them.
For you say, ‘Where is the house of the prince? Where is the tent in which the wicked lived?’
Have you not asked those who travel the roads, and do you not accept their testimony
that the evil man is spared in the day of calamity, that he is rescued in the day of wrath?
When he is carried to the grave, watch is kept over his tomb.
The clods of the valley are sweet to him; all mankind follows after him, and those who go before him are innumerable.
Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:
Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are in the right, or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless?
For you have exacted pledges of your brothers for nothing and stripped the naked of their clothing.
You have given no water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry.
The man with power possessed the land, and the favored man lived in it.
You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless were crushed.
“Is not God high in the heavens? See the highest stars, how lofty they are!
But you say, ‘What does God know? Can he judge through the deep darkness?
Thick clouds veil him, so that he does not see, and he walks on the vault of heaven.’
Will you keep to the old way that wicked men have trod?
They said to God, ‘Depart from us,’ and ‘What can the Almighty do to us?’
Yet he filled their houses with good things— but the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
The righteous see it and are glad; the innocent one mocks at them,
saying, ‘Surely our adversaries are cut off, and what they left the fire has consumed.’
If you return to the Almighty you will be built up; if you remove injustice far from your tents,
if you lay gold in the dust, and gold of Ophir among the stones of the torrent-bed,
then the Almighty will be your gold and your precious silver.
For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty and lift up your face to God.
For when they are humbled you say, ‘It is because of pride’; but he saves the lowly.
He delivers even the one who is not innocent, who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.”
Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power? No; he would pay attention to me.
on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him; he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him.
But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold.
I have not departed from the commandment of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food.
God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me;
yet I am not silenced because of the darkness, nor because thick darkness covers my face.
“Why are not times of judgment kept by the Almighty, and why do those who know him never see his days?
They drive away the donkey of the fatherless; they take the widow's ox for a pledge.
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.
Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved.