וַיַּעַן אֱלִיפַז הַתֵּימָנִי וַיֹּאמַר׃

Elifaz the Temanite answered and said:

החָכָם יַעֲנֶה דַעַת־רוּחַ וִימַלֵּא קָדִים בִּטְנוֹ

Should the wise answer with windy knowledge, vanity, and have the dry east wind fill his belly? How can it be that you, a man who is considered wise, actually have no true wisdom inside you? Only empty words arise from your belly.

הוֹכֵחַ בְּדָבָר לֹא יִסְכּוֹן וּמִלִּים לֹא־יוֹעִיל בָּם

You, the wise man, rebuke and judge with useless talk and pointless words with no effect in them.

אַף־אַתָּה תָּפֵר יִרְאָה וְתִגְרַע שִׂיחָה לִפְנֵי־אֵל

Indeed, with your comments you nullify reverence of God and make belittling and flawed speech before God.

כִּי יְאַלֵּף עֲוֹנְךָ פִיךָ וְתִבְחַר לְשׁוֹן עֲרוּמִים

For your iniquity trains your mouth what to say. Your words do not emanate from the heart of the righteous man I knew; rather, they are an expression of the sinner within you. And this is so even though you do not openly utter prohibited or heretical statements; instead, you choose clever language, crafty sayings that only allude to such wicked matters.

יַרְשִׁיעֲךָ פִיךָ וְלֹא־אָנִי וּשְׂפָתֶיךָ יַעֲנוּ בָךְ

Your mouth condemns you, and not I. What you yourself have said is enough to condemn you. I do not need to add anything; your own lips testify against you.

הרִאישׁוֹן אָדָם תִּוָּלֵד וְלִפְנֵי גְבָעוֹת חוֹלָלְתָּ

You speak with confidence, as though there was never a person like you. Are you the first man who was born in the world? Were you made before the hills? Has no experience and knowledge been accumulated in the world until now? There are people from whom you can inquire and learn. What is the source of your supposedly certain knowledge?

הבְסוֹד אֱלוֹהַּ תִּשְׁמָע ותִגְרַע אֵלֶיךָ חָכְמָה

Do you listen in the council of God and extract wisdom for yourself?

מַה־יָּדַעְתָּ וְלֹא נֵדָע תָּבִין וְלֹא־עִמָּנוּ הוּא

What do you know that we do not know? What do you understand that is not with us, in our consciousness?

גַּם־שָׂב גַּם־יָשִׁישׁ בָּנוּ כַּבִּיר מֵאָבִיךָ יָמִים

Both the graybeard and the aged are among us, and some of us are greater in days than your father.

הַמְעַט מִמְּךָ תַּנְחוּמוֹת אֵל וְדָבָר לָאַט עִמָּךְ

Is it not enough for you, the consolations of God, the good that God has wrought for you until now? Alternatively, are the consolations in our statements about God too meager for you? Are you not satisfied with the matter that God whispered to you, which He revealed to you through your friends?

מַה יִּקָּחֲךָ לִבֶּךָ וּמַה־יִּרְזְמוּן עֵינֶיךָ

To what, or to where, does your heart take you, and what do your eyes intimate?

כִּי תָשִׁיב אֶל־אֵל רוּחֶךָ וְהֹצֵאתָ מִפִּיךָ מִלִּין

Only when you turn your spirit toward God, then you can express words of truth from your mouth.

מָה־אֱנוֹשׁ כִּי־יִזְכֶּה וְכִי־יִצְדַּק יְלוּד אִשָּׁה

What is man that he should be exonerated, and that one born of a woman be justified? Man can never be considered entirely innocent and righteous.

הֵן בִּקְדֹשָׁו לֹא יַאֲמִין ושָׁמַיִם לֹא־זַכּוּ בְעֵינָיו

Behold, even in His holy ones, the angels, He does not trust, as even their shortcomings are revealed to God; therefore, He does not fully trust them. And even the heavens are not pure in His eyes.

אַף כִּי נִתְעָב וְנֶאֱלָח אִישׁ־שֹׁתֶה כַמַּיִם עַוְלָה

If He does not place His faith in angels and heavenly beings, all the more so He will not rely on one abominable and revolting, a man who drinks iniquity like water, who pursues crime and amasses more and more sins.

אֲחַוְךָ שְׁמַע־לִי וְזֶה חָזִיתִי וַאֲסַפֵּרָה

I will tell you; hear me, this I have seen, in a vision or in my thoughts, and will relate.

אֲשֶׁר־חֲכָמִים יַגִּידוּ וְלֹא כִחֲדוּ מֵאֲבוֹתָם

I will tell you that which the wise men tell and which is received from their fathers and that which they do not withhold,

לָהֶם לְבַדָּם נִתְּנָה הָאָרֶץ וְלֹא־עָבַר זָר בְּתוֹכָם

the righteous, upright fathers to whom alone the land, the world, was given, and no stranger has passed among them. Even if there were others who inherited the world, they are considered of no importance at all.

כָּל־יְמֵי רָשָׁע הוּא מִתְחוֹלֵל וּמִסְפַּר שָׁנִים נִצְפְּנוּ לעָרִיץ

This is what the wise men relate: All the days of the wicked, he trembles with fear; a number of years is set aside, allotted, for the powerful, and until his imminent demise, he lives a life of terror.

קוֹל־פְּחָדִים בְּאָזְנָיו בּשָׁלוֹם שׁוֹדֵד יְבוֹאֶנּוּ

The sound of terrors is always in his ears; even in peaceful years of tranquility, the robber will come upon him.

לֹא־יַאֲמִין שׁוּב מִנִּי חֹשֶׁךְ וְצָפוּי הוּא אֱלֵי־חָרֶב

He does not believe that he will return from darkness, and despite the gloom, he is visible to a sword, as the one holding the sword can perceive him.

נֹדֵד הוּא לַלֶּחֶם אַיֵּה יָדַע כִּי־נָכוֹן בְּיָדוֹ יוֹם־חֹשֶׁךְ

He wanders for bread, asking: Where is it? He knows that the day of darkness is ready at hand for him. It awaits him.

יְבַעֲתֻהוּ צַר וּמְצוּקָה תִּתְקְפֵהוּ כְּמֶלֶךְ עָתִיד לַכִּידוֹר

Trouble, or enemies, and distress terrorize or startle him; they attack him like a king destined for a siege.

כִּי־נָטָה אֶל־אֵל יָדוֹ וְאֶל שַׁדַּי יִתְגַּבָּר

Because he, the wicked, extended his hand against God and would overcome the Almighty, since the wicked man is prepared to fight against God,

יָרוּץ אֵלָיו בְּצַוָּאר בַּעֲבִי גַּבֵּי מָגִנָּיו

he runs at Him, or against Him defiantly, with the thickness of his exposed shields.

כִּי־כִסָּה פָנָיו בְּחֶלְבּוֹ וַיַּעַשׂ פִּימָה עֲלֵי־כָסֶל

Until now, the wicked has enjoyed a life of pleasure. Because he has covered his face with his fat and he has made a flesh fold [pima], the folds of fat that appear like a mouth [peh], over his loins,

וַיִּשְׁכּוֹן עָרִים נִכְחָדוֹת בָּתִּים לֹא־יֵשְׁבוּ לָמוֹ אֲשֶׁר הִתְעַתְּדוּ לְגַלִּים

his sins are inevitably followed by punishment: He shall dwell in desolate cities and in houses in which one would not live, in structures which are destined to become demolished heaps.

לֹא־יֶעְשַׁר וְלֹא־יָקוּם חֵילוֹ ולֹא־יִטֶּה לָאָרֶץ מִנְלָם

He shall not become rich, and his wealth shall not endure, his wealth will not last; nothing of theirs will extend over the earth, or be left on earth to give to others.

לֹא־יָסוּר מִנִּי־חֹשֶׁךְ יֹנַקְתּוֹ תְּיַבֵּשׁ שַׁלְהָבֶת וְיָסוּר בְּרוּחַ פִּיו

He will not turn away from his place of darkness; the flame will dry his shoots, and they will pass away from the world by the breath of His mouth.

אַל־יַאֲמֵן בַּשָּׁוְ נִתְעָה כִּי־שָׁוְא תִּהְיֶה תְמוּרָתוֹ

Let him, the wicked, not trust in lies and futility that momentarily misleads, for emptiness will be his compensation. Falsehood begets nothing but more falsehood.

בְּלֹא־יוֹמוֹ תִּמָּלֵא וְכִפָּתוֹ לֹא רַעֲנָנָה

It will be concluded before his time. He will die early, and his treetop will not be green.

יַחְמֹס כַּגֶּפֶן בִּסְרוֹ וְיַשְׁלֵךְ כַּזַּיִת נִצָּתוֹ

He will shed his unripe grapes like a vine whose clusters have not yet formed, and he will cast off his blossoms like an olive tree. The children, life, or deeds of the wicked will end before they come to fruition, like the unripe grapes and flowers of an olive tree that are shed and scattered before they develop into edible fruits.

כִּי־עֲדַת חָנֵף גַּלְמוּד וְאֵשׁ אָכְלָה אָהֳלֵי שֹׁחַד

For the company of the hypocrite and cheater will ultimately be lonely and desolate, and fire will eventually consume the tents of people who erected them with money obtained through bribery.

הָרֹה עָמָל וְיָלֹד אָוֶן וּבִטְנָם תָּכִין מִרְמָה

They, these wicked people, think of sin so much, it is as though they conceive or become pregnant with travail; therefore, they give birth to iniquity, and their belly prepares deceit.