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1 | Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said, |
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2 | Should a wise man utter vain knowledge, and fill his belly
with the east wind? |
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3 | Should he reason with unprofitable talk? or with speeches
wherewith he can do no good? |
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4 | Yea, thou castest off fear, and restrainest prayer before God. |
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5 | For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou choosest the
tongue of the crafty. |
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6 | Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I: yea, thine own
lips testify against thee. |
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7 | Art thou the first man that was born? or wast thou made before
the hills? |
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8 | Hast thou heard the secret of God? and dost thou restrain
wisdom to thyself? |
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9 | What knowest thou, that we know not? what understandest thou,
which is not in us? |
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10 | With us are both the grayheaded and very aged men, much elder
than thy father. |
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11 | Are the consolations of God small with thee? is there any
secret thing with thee? |
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12 | Why doth thine heart carry thee away? and what do thy eyes
wink at, |
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13 | That thou turnest thy spirit against God, and lettest such
words go out of thy mouth? |
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14 | 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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15 | Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens
are not clean in his sight. |
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16 | How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh
iniquity like water? |
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17 | I will shew thee, hear me; and that which I have seen I will
declare; |
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18 | Which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hid
it: |
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19 | Unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed
among them. |
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20 | The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, and the
number of years is hidden to the oppressor. |
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21 | A dreadful sound is in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer
shall come upon him. |
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22 | He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he
is waited for of the sword. |
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23 | 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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24 | Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid; they shall prevail
against him, as a king ready to the battle. |
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25 | For he stretcheth out his hand against God, and strengtheneth
himself against the Almighty. |
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26 | He runneth upon him, even on his neck, upon the thick bosses
of his bucklers: |
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27 | Because he covereth his face with his fatness, and maketh
collops of fat on his flanks. |
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28 | And he dwelleth in desolate cities, and in houses which no man
inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps. |
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29 | He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue,
neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the
earth. |
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30 | 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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31 | Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity: for vanity shall
be his recompence. |
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32 | It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall
not be green. |
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33 | He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall
cast off his flower as the olive. |
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34 | For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire
shall consume the tabernacles of bribery. |
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35 | They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, and their
belly prepareth deceit. |
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