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Job 15

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Eliphaz's Second Speech: Job's Vain Talk 1–6

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Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said,
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Should a wise man make answer with vain knowledge, And fill himself with the east wind? ​
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Should he reason with unprofitable talk, Or with speeches wherewith he can do no good?
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Yea, thou doest away with fear, And hinderest devotion before God. ​
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For thine iniquity teacheth thy mouth, And thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.
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Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I; Yea, thine own lips testify against thee.

The Frailty of Human Wisdom 7–16

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Art thou the first man that was born? Or wast thou brought forth before the hills? ​
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Hast thou heard the secret counsel of God? And dost thou limit wisdom to thyself? ​
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What knowest thou, that we know not? What understandest thou, which is not in us?
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With us are both the gray-headed and the very aged men, Much elder than thy father. ​
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Are the consolations of God too small for thee, Even the word that is gentle toward thee?
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Why doth thy heart carry thee away? And why do thine eyes flash,
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That against God thou turnest thy spirit, And lettest words go out of thy mouth?
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What is man, that he should be clean? And he that is born of a woman, that he should be righteous? ​
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Behold, he putteth no trust in his holy ones; Yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight: ​
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How much less one that is abominable and corrupt, A man that drinketh iniquity like water! ​

The Inevitable Fate of the Wicked 17–35

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I will show thee, hear thou me; And that which I have seen I will declare
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(Which wise men have told From their fathers, and have not hid it; ​
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Unto whom alone the land was given, And no stranger passed among them):
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The wicked man travaileth with 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 upon him.
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He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, And he is waited for of the sword.
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He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where is it? He knoweth 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 hath stretched out his hand against God, And behaveth himself proudly against the Almighty; ​
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He runneth upon him with astiffneck, With the thick bosses of his bucklers; ​
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Because he hath covered his face with his fatness, And gathered fat upon his loins; ​
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And he hath dwelt in desolate cities, In houses which no man 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, And by the breath of God’s mouth shall he go away.
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Let him not trust in vanity, deceiving himself; For vanity shall be his recompense. ​
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It shall be accomplished before his time, And 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, And their heart prepareth deceit.

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Job 15

Verse 2

fill his belly with the east wind — 'Vain knowledge' is literally knowledge of wind (ruach); the 'east wind' is qadim, the wind from the east. Eliphaz calls Job's speech empty and hurtful; Bildad had said the same (Job 8:2), and Hos 12:1 has 'feedeth on wind, and followeth after the east wind'.

Verse 4

castest off fear — Parar is to break or annul; 'restrainest' is gara, to take away or diminish; 'prayer' is sichah, meditation or devotion. Eliphaz charges Job with dropping devotion to God. Job later asks of the hypocrite, 'will he always call upon God?' (Job 27:10).

Verse 7

the first man that was born — 'Made' is chul, to writhe or be brought forth in birth, the verb of 'travaileth with pain' in v.20. The question recalls wisdom 'brought forth' before the hills (Prov 8:25) and answers Job's 'With the ancient is wisdom' (Job 12:12).

Verse 8

the secret of God — Sod is a session of close deliberation, hence intimacy and confidence. 'The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him' (Ps 25:14); Eliphaz asks whether Job has listened in on it. 'Restrain' is gara, the verb of v.4: does Job keep wisdom back for himself?

Verse 10

grayheaded and very aged men — Siv, the grey-haired, and yashish, the very old; 'much elder' is literally great in days. Eliphaz rests on age and tradition as Bildad did (Job 8:8). Elihu later answers, 'Days should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom' (Job 32:7).

Verse 14

What is man, that he should be clean? — 'Man' is enosh, mortal man; 'clean' is zakah, to be pure; 'righteous' is tsadaq. Job had asked, 'Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?' (Job 14:4); Bildad later repeats nearly these words (Job 25:4).

Verse 15

he putteth no trust in his saints — 'Saints' is qadosh, holy ones, here the heavenly beings; 'trust' is aman. Eliphaz repeats his earlier word, 'he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly' (Job 4:18); Bildad echoes it of the stars (Job 25:5).

Verse 16

drinketh iniquity like water — 'Abominable' is taab, to loathe; 'filthy' is alach, to turn corrupt (Ps 14:3 uses the same verb). 'Iniquity' is evel, perversity. The picture is wrongdoing taken in as freely as water, and Elihu says of Job, 'drinketh up scorning like water' (Job 34:7).

Verse 18

Which wise men have told from their fathers — Nagad is to declare openly; 'have not hid' is kachad, to conceal. Eliphaz names the wise as witnesses, as Bildad had (Job 8:8). The handing down of what 'our fathers have told us' is praised in Ps 78:3.

Verse 20

travaileth with pain all his days — Chul is to writhe, as in childbirth; it is the verb rendered 'made' in v.7. The 'oppressor' is aritz, the ruthless. Verses 20–35 are Eliphaz's account of the wicked man's lot; Job later speaks of 'the heritage of oppressors' (Job 27:13).

Verse 25

stretcheth out his hand against God — Natah is to stretch out; 'strengtheneth himself' is gabar, to act mightily or insolently; 'the Almighty' is Shaddai. Open defiance is the cause Eliphaz gives for the sufferings of vv.20–24, and it matches 'turnest thy spirit against God' (v.13).

Verse 26

the thick bosses of his bucklers — The wicked man 'runneth' (ruts) at God, even on his neck (tsavvar), against the gab, the rounded boss of the magen, the small shield. The picture is a headlong charge at the thickest part of the shield.

Verse 27

covereth his face with his fatness — Cheleb is fat, here a figure of prosperity grown gross. Compare 'Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked' and 'forsook God which made him' (Deut 32:15), and 'They are inclosed in their own fat: with their mouth they speak proudly' (Ps 17:10).

Verse 31

Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity — 'Deceived' is taah, to wander or go astray; 'vanity' is shav, emptiness or falsehood, and it appears twice. 'Recompence' is temurah, an exchange: what he trusts in is what he gets. Isaiah says of the wicked, 'they trust in vanity, and speak lies' (Isa 59:4).

Verse 34

the congregation of hypocrites — 'Hypocrites' is chanef, the godless or profane; 'congregation' is edah, a gathered company; 'desolate' is galmud, barren. 'Bribery' is shachad, a bribe. Bildad likewise said 'the hypocrite's hope shall perish' (Job 8:13); Job spoke of the hypocrite's hope in Job 27:8.