15:2Should a wise man make answer with vain knowledge,
And fill himself with the east wind?
15:3Should he reason with unprofitable talk,
Or with speeches wherewith he can do no good?
15:4Yea, thou doest away with fear,
And hinderest devotion before God.
15:5For thine iniquity teacheth thy mouth,
And thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.
15:6Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I;
Yea, thine own lips testify against thee. \\ \\
15:7Art thou the first man that was born?
Or wast thou brought forth before the hills?
15:8Hast thou heard the secret counsel of God?
And dost thou limit wisdom to thyself?
15:9What knowest thou, that we know not?
What understandest thou, which is not in us?
15:10With us are both the gray-headed and the very aged men,
Much elder than thy father.
15:11Are the consolations of God too small for thee,
Even the word that is gentle toward thee?
15:12Why doth thy heart carry thee away?
And why do thine eyes flash,
15:13That against God thou turnest thy spirit,
And lettest words go out of thy mouth?
15:14What is man, that he should be clean?
And he that is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
15:15Behold, he putteth no trust in his holy ones;
Yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight:
15:16How much less one that is abominable and corrupt,
A man that drinketh iniquity like water! \\ \\
15:17I will show thee, hear thou me;
And that which I have seen I will declare:
15:18(Which wise men have told
From their fathers, and have not hid it;
15:19Unto whom alone the land was given,
And no stranger passed among them):
15:20The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days,
Even the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor.
15:21A sound of terrors is in his ears;
In prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him.
15:22He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness,
And he is waited for of the sword.
15:23He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where is it?
He knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.
15:24Distress and anguish make him afraid;
They prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.
15:25Because he hath stretched out his hand against God,
And behaveth himself proudly against the Almighty;
15:26He runneth upon him with a stiff neck,
With the thick bosses of his bucklers;
15:27Because he hath covered his face with his fatness,
And gathered fat upon his loins;
15:28And he hath dwelt in desolate cities,
In houses which no man inhabited,
Which were ready to become heaps;
15:29He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue,
Neither shall their possessions be extended on the earth.
15:30He shall not depart out of darkness;
The flame shall dry up his branches,
And by the breath of God's mouth shall he go away.
15:31Let him not trust in vanity, deceiving himself;
For vanity shall be his recompense.
15:32It shall be accomplished before his time,
And his branch shall not be green.
15:33He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine,
And shall cast off his flower as the olive-tree.
15:34For the company of the godless shall be barren,
And fire shall consume the tents of bribery.
15:35They conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity,
And their heart prepareth deceit.
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