Job 15

₂Should a wise man utter vain knowledge,

And fill his belly with the east wind?

₃Should he reason with unprofitable talk?

Or with speeches wherewith he can do no good?

₄Yea, thou castest off fear,

And restrainest prayer before God.

₅For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity,

And thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.

₆Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I:

Yea, thine own lips testify against thee.

₇Art thou the first man that was born?

Or wast thou made before the hills?

₈Hast thou heard the secret of God?

And dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself?

₉What knowest thou, that we know not?

What understandest thou, which is not in us?

₁₀With us are both the grayheaded and very aged men,

Much elder than thy father.

₁₁Are the consolations of God small with thee?

Is there any secret thing with thee?

₁₂Why doth thine heart carry thee away?

And what do thy eyes wink at,

₁₃That thou turnest thy spirit against God,

And lettest such words go out of thy mouth?

₁₄What is man, that he should be clean?

And he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?

₁₅Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints;

Yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight.

₁₆How much more abominable and filthy is man,

Which drinketh iniquity like water?

₁₇I will shew thee, hear me;

And that which I have seen I will declare;

₁₈Which wise men have told

From their fathers, and have not hid it:

₁₉Unto whom alone the earth was given,

And no stranger passed among them.

₂₀The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days,

And the number of years is hidden to the oppressor.

₂₁A dreadful sound is in his ears:

In prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him.

₂₂He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness,

And he is waited for of the sword.

₂₃He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where is it?

He knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.

₂₄Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid;

They shall prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.

₂₅For he stretcheth out his hand against God,

And strengtheneth himself against the Almighty.

₂₆He runneth upon him, even on his neck,

Upon the thick bosses of his bucklers:

₂₇Because he covereth his face with his fatness,

And maketh collops of fat on his flanks.

₂₈And he dwelleth in desolate cities,

And in houses which no man inhabiteth,

Which are ready to become heaps.

₂₉He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue,

Neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth.

₃₀He shall not depart out of darkness;

The flame shall dry up his branches,

And by the breath of his mouth shall he go away.

₃₁Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity:

For vanity shall be his recompence.

₃₂It shall be accomplished before his time,

And his branch shall not be green.

₃₃He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine,

And shall cast off his flower as the olive.

₃₄For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate,

And fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery.

₃₅They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity,

And their belly prepareth deceit.