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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 utter vain knowledge, and fill his belly 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 castest off fear, and restrainest prayer before God. ​
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For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, 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 made before the hills? ​
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Hast thou heard the secret of God? and dost thou restrain 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 grayheaded and very aged men, much elder than thy father. ​
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Are the consolations of God small with thee? is there any secret thing with thee?
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Why doth thine heart carry thee away? and what do thy eyes wink at,
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That thou turnest thy spirit against God, and lettest such words go out of thy mouth?
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What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous? ​
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Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight. ​
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How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water? ​

The Inevitable Fate of the Wicked 17–35

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I will shew thee, hear 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 earth was given, and no stranger passed among them.
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The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor. ​
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A dreadful sound 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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Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid; they shall prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.
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For he stretcheth out his hand against God, and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty. ​
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He runneth upon him, even on his neck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers: ​
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Because he covereth his face with his fatness, and maketh collops of fat on his flanks. ​
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And he dwelleth in desolate cities, and in houses which no man inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps.
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He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon 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 his mouth shall he go away.
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Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity: for vanity shall be his recompence. ​
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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.
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For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery. ​
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They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth deceit.

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · 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. Wrongdoing taken in as freely as water; 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. 'Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked' and 'forsook God which made him' (Deut 32:15); '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.