1. Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:
2. “Should a wise man answer with windy knowledge,and fill his belly with the east wind?
3. Should he argue in unprofitable talk,or in words with which he can do no good?
4. But you are doing away with the fear of Godand hindering meditation before God.
5. For your iniquity teaches your mouth,and you choose the tongue of the crafty.
6. Your own mouth condemns you, and not I; your own lips testify against you.
7. “Are you the first man who was born?Or were you brought forth before the hills?
8. Have you listened in the council of God?And do you limit wisdom to yourself?
9. What do you know that we do not know?What do you understand that is not clear to us?
10. Both the gray-haired and the aged are among us,older than your father.
11. Are the comforts of God too small for you,or the word that deals gently with you?
12. Why does your heart carry you away,and why do your eyes flash,
13. that you turn your spirit against Godand bring such words out of your mouth?
14. What is man, that he can be pure?Or he who is born of a woman, that he can be righteous?