Job 15

Introduction

Job 15 opens the second cycle of speeches, and it begins with Eliphaz — but a very different Eliphaz from the gentle elder of chapters 4–5. In his first speech, Eliphaz was relatively restrained, couching his accusations in indirect language and mystical vision. Here he drops the pretense. Job's responses in chapters 12–14 have evidently enraged him: Job claimed equal wisdom, called the friends liars, demanded a hearing before God, and expressed hope for a future vindication. Eliphaz responds with full force.

His first move is to attack Job's credibility: Job's own mouth condemns him. His second move is a theological insult: who does Job think he is — the first man ever born, present at creation, privy to the divine council? His third move is to reassert traditional wisdom with heightened urgency: even the holy angels are not pure before God — how much less a corrupt human being who "drinks injustice like water"? The chapter ends with a long and vivid portrait of the wicked man's fate (vv. 20–35), which functions as an implicit threat to Job: this is where you are headed, unless you repent.

Eliphaz Attacks Job's Words (vv. 1–13)

¹ Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied: ² "Does a wise man answer with empty counsel or fill his belly with the hot east wind? ³ Should he argue with useless words or speeches that serve no purpose? ⁴ But you even undermine the fear of God and hinder meditation before Him. ⁵ For your iniquity instructs your mouth, and you choose the language of the crafty. ⁶ Your own mouth, not mine, condemns you; your own lips testify against you. ⁷ Were you the first man ever born? Were you brought forth before the hills? ⁸ Do you listen in on the council of God or limit wisdom to yourself? ⁹ What do you know that we do not? What do you understand that is not clear to us? ¹⁰ Both the gray-haired and the aged are on our side—men much older than your father. ¹¹ Are the consolations of God not enough for you, even words spoken gently to you? ¹² Why has your heart carried you away, and why do your eyes flash, ¹³ so that you turn your spirit against God and pour such words from your mouth?

¹ Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said: ² "Should a wise man answer with windy knowledge, or fill his belly with the east wind? ³ Should he argue with useless words, with speeches that do no good? ⁴ Indeed, you do away with the fear of God and undermine meditation before him. ⁵ For your iniquity instructs your mouth, and you choose the tongue of the crafty. ⁶ Your own mouth condemns you — not I; your own lips testify against you. ⁷ Were you the first man born? Were you brought forth before the hills? ⁸ Have you listened in on God's council? Do you limit wisdom to yourself? ⁹ What do you know that we do not know? What do you understand that is not in us? ¹⁰ Both the gray-haired and the aged are among us — older than your father. ¹¹ Are the consolations of God too small for you? Is there any secret word with you? ¹² Why has your heart carried you away, and why do your eyes flash — ¹³ that you turn your spirit against God and let such words go out of your mouth?

Notes

Eliphaz opens with the same accusation as the others: Job's words are רוּחַ ("wind") — Bildad called them "a great wind" in Job 8:2, and now Eliphaz elaborates: דַּעַת קָדִים — "knowledge of the east wind." The east wind in Palestinian geography is the hot, dry, devastating sirocco that scorches crops and exhausts travelers. Knowledge that burns but does not nourish. The word בֶּטֶן ("belly") is sometimes used for the seat of deep feeling or thought — filling it with east wind means swallowing only devastation.
Verse 4's charge is serious: אַף אַתָּה תָּפֵר יִרְאָה — "indeed you are undermining the fear [of God]." The noun יִרְאָה is one of the most important in the entire wisdom tradition — "fear of the LORD" is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 1:7), and is the characteristic used to describe Job himself in Job 1:1. Eliphaz now accuses Job of actively dissolving this foundational piety by his complaints. תִּגְרַע שִׂיחָה לִפְנֵי אֵל — "and you restrain/diminish meditation before God." The verb גָּרַע means to diminish, to withhold. Job's protests, Eliphaz claims, are not prayer but the opposite of prayer.
Verse 5 is a psychologically acute accusation: כִּי יְאַלֵּף עֲוֹנְךָ פִיךָ — "for your iniquity teaches your mouth." The verb אָלַף ("to teach, to instruct") is related to the root of אֶלֶף — Eliphaz says Job's sin has been schooling his speech. His choice of words — לְשׁוֹן עֲרוּמִים ("the tongue of the crafty/shrewd") — echoes the Serpent's description in Genesis 3:1 (עָרוּם — "crafty"). This is a devastating comparison: Job sounds like the Serpent, using clever speech to undermine divine authority.
Verses 7–8 mock Job with biting irony. "Were you the first man born?" (הָרִאשׁוֹן אָדָם תִּוָּלֵד) — perhaps an allusion to an ancient myth of a primordial man present at creation, or simply a reference to Adam. "Were you brought forth before the hills?" (לִפְנֵי גְבָעוֹת חוֹלָלְתָּ) — the hills are ancient (cf. Proverbs 8:25 where Wisdom was "brought forth before the hills"). "Do you listen in on God's council?" (בְּסוֹד אֱלוֹהַּ תִּשְׁמָע) — the סוֹד ("council, secret council") is the divine assembly where God deliberates. Ironically, the reader knows that Job has been discussed in God's council — but not in the way Eliphaz means.
Verses 11–12 offer a moment of near-compassion before the resumption of accusation. "Are the consolations of God (תַּנְחוּמוֹת אֵל) too small for you?" The "consolations" may refer to the friends' speeches — Eliphaz considers himself a vessel of divine comfort. מַה יִּקָּחֲךָ לִבֶּךָ — "why has your heart taken you away?" The verb לָקַח ("to take, to seize") suggests the heart has seized Job and carried him away from reason. And מַה יִּרְזְמוּן עֵינֶיךָ — "why do your eyes flash?" Some translate this as blinking (rapid blinking as sign of arrogance) or as glaring in anger or contempt.

Human Corruption Before God (vv. 14–16)

¹⁴ What is man, that he should be pure, or one born of woman, that he should be righteous? ¹⁵ If God puts no trust in His holy ones, if even the heavens are not pure in His eyes, ¹⁶ how much less man, who is vile and corrupt, who drinks injustice like water?

¹⁴ What is man, that he should be pure? And one born of woman, that he should be righteous? ¹⁵ Behold, he puts no trust in his holy ones, and the heavens are not pure in his sight — ¹⁶ how much less one who is abominable and corrupt, a man who drinks injustice like water!

Notes

This brief but theologically dense passage (vv. 14–16) rehearses the argument Eliphaz made at length in Job 4:17-21. The rhetorical question מַה אֱנוֹשׁ כִּי יִזְכֶּה ("what is man that he should be pure?") uses זָכָה ("to be pure, clean, without fault") — a word for moral or ritual purity. The argument is from the greater to the lesser: if even the קְדֹשִׁים ("holy ones" — divine beings, angels) are not trusted by God, how much less a human being? The word נִתְעָב ("abominable") and נֶאֱלַח ("corrupt, putrid") in verse 16 are among the strongest terms of moral condemnation in the Hebrew Bible. To "drink injustice like water" — שֹׁתֶה כַמַּיִם עַוְלָה — is to absorb wickedness as naturally and continuously as one breathes.
The statement that even the heavens are not pure before God (cf. Job 4:18) raises a genuine theological question about what this means. Some interpreters read it as referring to the heavenly bodies (sun, moon, stars), which are not inherently divine but created. Others read קְדֹשִׁים as angelic beings who can still err or be found wanting — a claim that would align with the description of the Adversary in Job 1:6-7 as one of the "sons of God" who is permitted to accuse and test. Either way, the argument establishes a hierarchy of purity in which human beings occupy the lowest rung.

The Fate of the Wicked (vv. 17–35)

¹⁷ Listen to me and I will inform you. I will describe what I have seen, ¹⁸ what was declared by wise men and was not concealed from their fathers, ¹⁹ to whom alone the land was given when no foreigner passed among them. ²⁰ A wicked man writhes in pain all his days; only a few years are reserved for the ruthless. ²¹ Sounds of terror fill his ears; in his prosperity the destroyer attacks him. ²² He despairs of his return from darkness; he is marked for the sword. ²³ He wanders about as food for vultures; he knows the day of darkness is at hand. ²⁴ Distress and anguish terrify him, overwhelming him like a king poised to attack. ²⁵ For he has stretched out his hand against God and has vaunted himself against the Almighty, ²⁶ rushing headlong at Him with a thick, studded shield. ²⁷ Though his face is covered with fat and his waistline bulges with flesh, ²⁸ he will dwell in ruined cities, in abandoned houses destined to become rubble. ²⁹ He will no longer be rich; his wealth will not endure. His possessions will not overspread the land. ³⁰ He will not escape from the darkness; the flame will wither his shoots, and the breath of God's mouth will carry him away. ³¹ Let him not deceive himself with trust in emptiness, for emptiness will be his reward. ³² It will be paid in full before his time, and his branch will not flourish. ³³ He will be like a vine stripped of its unripe grapes, like an olive tree that sheds its blossoms. ³⁴ For the company of the godless will be barren, and fire will consume the tents of bribery. ³⁵ They conceive trouble and give birth to evil; their womb is pregnant with deceit.

¹⁷ I will tell you — hear me; and what I have seen, I will declare — ¹⁸ what wise men have told, and hidden nothing from their fathers, ¹⁹ to whom alone the land was given, and no stranger passed among them. ²⁰ The wicked man writhes in pain all his days, and few years are stored up for the ruthless. ²¹ Terrifying sounds fill his ears; in prosperity the destroyer comes upon him. ²² He does not believe he will return from darkness; he is kept for the sword. ²³ He wanders about — for bread, where is it? He knows that a day of darkness is ready at his hand. ²⁴ Distress and anguish terrify him; they overpower him like a king advancing to battle. ²⁵ Because he has stretched out his hand against God and defied the Almighty, ²⁶ he has run against him with a stiff neck, with the thick bosses of his shield, ²⁷ because he has covered his face with his fat and gathered fat upon his sides — ²⁸ he will dwell in desolate cities, in houses that no one inhabits, which are ready to become rubble. ²⁹ He will not be rich, and his wealth will not endure, nor will his possessions spread over the earth. ³⁰ He will not escape from the darkness; the flame will dry up his shoots, and he will depart by the breath of God's mouth. ³¹ Let him not trust in futility, deceiving himself — for futility will be his payment. ³² It will be paid in full before his time, and his branch will not be green. ³³ He will shake off his unripe grapes like a vine, and shed his blossoms like an olive tree. ³⁴ For the company of the godless will be barren, and fire will consume the tents of bribery. ³⁵ They conceive trouble and give birth to evil, and their womb prepares deceit.

Notes

Eliphaz's long portrait of the wicked man's fate (vv. 20–35) is the second cycle's equivalent of Bildad's plant metaphors (Job 8:11-19). It is more elaborate and more vivid — and more clearly aimed at Job. The wicked man "writhes in pain all his days" (יְחוֹלֵל רָשָׁע כָּל יָמָיו) — the same pain Job is experiencing. He "wanders for bread" (v. 23) — the same destitution Job knows. He hears "terrifying sounds" (v. 21) — the same terrors Job has described. Eliphaz has constructed the exact profile of the wicked man to match Job's experience point by point. The argument: you look like the wicked man's description; therefore, you are wicked.
The description of the wicked man's defiance (vv. 25–27) is colorful: he stretches out his hand against God (נָטָה יָדוֹ עַל אֵל), runs against him with a stiff neck (גַּב אֵלָיו יִתְהַלֵּךְ — literally, "he runs at him with his neck"), and has grown fat with prosperity while pursuing this rebellion. The image of a man charging God with a thick shield is almost comic — and yet it is what Eliphaz implicitly accuses Job of doing. Job's demand for a legal hearing, his complaint against God's treatment, his refusal to repent — all of this looks to Eliphaz like the posture of a man shaking his fist at God.
The horticultural metaphors of verses 32–33 — unripe grapes shaken from a vine (יַחְמֹס כַּגֶּפֶן בִּסְרוֹ), blossoms shed from an olive tree (כַּזַּיִת יַשְׁלֵךְ נִצָּתוֹ) — emphasize premature destruction. The wicked person does not reach natural maturity; they are destroyed before their fruit can ripen. The olive blossom image is particularly evocative — the olive was the most economically valuable tree in the ancient Near East, and its failure to fruit was a catastrophe.
Verse 35's final line — בִּטְנָם תָּכִין מִרְמָה — "their womb prepares deceit" — closes with the image of the wicked giving birth to deception. The womb (בֶּטֶן) that should produce life instead produces מִרְמָה ("deceit, treachery"). Trouble (עָמָל) is conceived; evil (אָוֶן) is born; deceit is what gestates. The portrait is one of internal moral corruption expressing itself in every dimension of life.

Interpretations

Eliphaz's portrait of the wicked man has been read as genuine empirical wisdom — it accurately describes the trajectory of a life devoted to defying God — and as a profound pastoral failure — it is accurate in the abstract but catastrophically misapplied. The Reformed tradition, following the structure of Job 42:7-8, insists that while the friends' theology often contains real truth, God explicitly says they have not spoken "what is right" about him. The reason: they used true principles to make false accusations against an innocent man. The book of Job thus teaches not only that suffering and sin are not always correlated, but that the misuse of true doctrine can itself be a form of sin against God and neighbor.