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Wisdom & Poetry · Old Testament

Job 15

Job 15: Eliphaz's second speech and the wicked man's terror

General context

Eliphaz the Temanite answers Job a second time. He asks whether a wise man should utter vain knowledge and fill his belly with the east wind, and says Job casts off fear and restrains prayer; Job's own mouth and lips condemn him. He asks whether Job is the first man born, made before the hills, or has heard God's secret, and what Job knows that the friends do not; the grayheaded and very aged are with them, older than Job's father. He asks whether the consolations of God are small with Job and why his heart carries him away so that he turns his spirit against God. He asks what man is that he should be clean; God puts no trust in his saints and the heavens are not clean in his sight, so how much more filthy is man who drinks iniquity like water. Eliphaz then says he will declare what he has seen and what wise men told from their fathers, to whom alone the earth was given. The wicked man travails in pain all his days, hears a dreadful sound, expects the sword, wanders for bread, and is made afraid by trouble and anguish, because he stretched out his hand against God and ran upon him on the thick bosses of bucklers, covering his face with fat. He dwells in desolate cities ready to become heaps; he will not be rich, will not leave darkness, and the flame will dry his branches. Those who trust vanity get vanity; his branch will not be green, his grape and flower fall off, the congregation of hypocrites is desolate and fire consumes the tabernacles of bribery; they conceive mischief and bring forth vanity.

Cited passages: Job 15:1, Job 15:2, Job 15:4, Job 15:5, Job 15:6, Job 15:7, Job 15:8, Job 15:9, Job 15:10, Job 15:11, Job 15:13, Job 15:14, Job 15:15, Job 15:16, Job 15:17, Job 15:18, Job 15:19, Job 15:20, Job 15:21, Job 15:22, Job 15:23, Job 15:24, Job 15:25, Job 15:26, Job 15:27, Job 15:28, Job 15:29, Job 15:30, Job 15:32, Job 15:33, Job 15:34, Job 15:35

Job 15 (KJV)

1Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said,

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.

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Historical context

The narrator's line, Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said, marks the start of the second round of speeches; Eliphaz spoke first in chapters 4 and 5. His claims here are his own and harsher than before: that Job's own mouth condemns him, that Job restrains prayer, and that the friends have the aged on their side, much elder than thy father. This is the only mention of Job's father so far, and nothing else is said about him. Eliphaz's What is man, that he should be clean restates the words of his night voice in 4.17, now without the vision, and adds that the heavens are not clean in his sight. His appeal to wise men and their fathers, unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them, is a claim about the source of his teaching; the text does not identify these men. The portrait of the wicked man in verses 20 to 35 names no one, but it is delivered to Job as an answer, and its images of substance that does not continue and dwellings ready to become heaps sit beside Job's losses in chapter 1. Eliphaz does not say outright that Job is the wicked man.

Cited passages: Job 15:1, Job 4:1, Job 15:6, Job 15:4, Job 15:10, Job 15:14, Job 15:15, Job 4:17, Job 15:18, Job 15:19, Job 15:20, Job 15:29, Job 15:28, Job 1:3

Literary context

The speech falls into two halves. Verses 2 to 16 are direct questions to Job, stacked to deny him any standing: not the first man, not older than the hills, not privy to God's secret, not cleaner than the heavens. The phrase the east wind for Job's words matches Bildad's strong wind in 8.2 and Job's own my life is wind in 7.7. Verses 17 to 35 shift to third person, The wicked man, and pile up his fears: a dreadful sound, the sword waiting, the day of darkness ready, trouble and anguish as a king ready to the battle. The images of fat on the face and flanks and of running upon the thick bosses of bucklers give the wicked man's pride a body. Plant images close the speech, a branch not green, a vine casting its unripe grape, an olive dropping its flower, which echo Bildad's withering rush in 8.11 to 13 and Eliphaz's own harvest promise in 5.26, now reversed. The speech ends without any conditional promise to Job, unlike Eliphaz's first speech in 5.17 to 27; the offer of restoration is gone.

Cited passages: Job 15:2, Job 15:7, Job 15:8, Job 15:15, Job 8:2, Job 7:7, Job 15:20, Job 15:21, Job 15:22, Job 15:23, Job 15:24, Job 15:26, Job 15:27, Job 15:32, Job 15:33, Job 8:11, Job 5:26, Job 5:27

Key moments

  1. Eliphaz speaks again (Job 15:1). Eliphaz the Temanite answers Job a second time.
  2. Vain knowledge and east wind (Job 15:2). Eliphaz asks whether a wise man should fill his belly with the east wind.
  3. Thine own mouth condemneth thee (Job 15:6). Eliphaz says Job's own lips testify against him.
  4. Older than thy father (Job 15:10). Eliphaz says the very aged are on the friends' side.
  5. The heavens not clean (Job 15:15). Eliphaz says God puts no trust in his saints and the heavens are not clean.
  6. The wicked man travails (Job 15:20). Eliphaz describes the wicked man in pain all his days.
  7. Fire on the tents of bribery (Job 15:34). Eliphaz says the congregation of hypocrites will be desolate.

For reflection

Eliphaz's first speech ended with a promise of restoration; his second ends with fire on the tabernacles of bribery. What in Job's replies could have moved him, and does the text show Eliphaz listening or only reacting?

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