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¹³Oh that Thou wouldest hide me in the nether-world,

That Thou wouldest keep me secret, until Thy wrath be past,

That Thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me!—

¹⁴If a man die, may he live again?

All the days of my service would I wait, till my relief should come—

¹⁵Thou wouldest call, and I would answer Thee;

Thou wouldest have a desire to the work of Thy hands.

¹⁶But now Thou numberest my steps,

Thou dost not even wait for my sin;

¹⁷My transgression is sealed up in a bag,

And Thou heapest up mine iniquity.

¹⁸And surely the mountain falling crumbleth away, And the rock is removed out of its place;

¹⁹The waters wear the stones;

The overflowings thereof wash away the dust of the earth;

So Thou destroyest the hope of man.

²⁰Thou prevailest for ever against him, and he passeth;

Thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away.

²¹His sons come to honour, and he knoweth it not;

And they are brought low, but he regardeth them not.

²²But his flesh grieveth for him,

And his soul mourneth over him.

15 Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said:

²Should a wise man make answer with windy 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 doest away with fear,

And impairest devotion before God.

⁵For thine iniquity teacheth thy mouth,

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 brought forth before the hills?

⁸Dost thou hearken in the council 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 gray-headed and the very aged men,

Much older than thy father.

¹¹Are the consolations of God too small for thee,

And the word that dealeth gently with thee?

¹²Why doth thy heart carry thee away?

And why do thine eyes wink?

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

¹⁵Behold, He putteth no trust in His holy ones;

Yea, the heavens are not clean in His sight.

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