The second cycle of speeches begins with Eliphaz returning, and his tone has hardened considerably since his first speech (chapters 4-5). Gone is the delicate sympathy; Eliphaz now attacks Job directly. He accuses Job of undermining the fear of God with his words, of being crafted by his own mouth's cunning, of claiming wisdom that no human possesses. He asks devastating questions: Were you born before the hills? Did you listen in on God's secret council? What do you know that we do not? He appeals to the tradition of the ancients — the elders who received wisdom from the generation that held the land before any foreigner passed through it. Then Eliphaz launches into an extended portrait of the wicked man's fate: he writhes in torment all his days, terrible sounds fill his ears, he does not believe he will escape the darkness, he shakes his fist at God, he runs against God with a thick shield. His prosperity is temporary; his house will be desolate; fire will consume his tent. The wicked conceives trouble and gives birth to falsehood.
What Makes This Chapter Remarkable
Eliphaz's second speech marks the deterioration of the dialogue. In his first speech (chapter 4), Eliphaz began with pastoral sensitivity and offered comfort alongside correction. Now he begins with insult: 'Should a wise man answer with wind?' The shift reveals the friends' growing frustration — Job's refusal to accept their theology has moved them from sympathy to hostility. The portrait of the wicked man in verses 20-35 is magnificent poetry in service of a flawed argument. Eliphaz describes the inner torment of the guilty conscience — the wicked man hears terrifying sounds in peacetime, expects the sword in prosperity, wanders looking for bread, knows that darkness is prepared for him. The psychological acuity is genuine; the application to Job is wrong. Eliphaz is describing a guilty person's experience, and Job is not guilty.
Translation Friction
Eliphaz's appeal to tradition (verses 17-19) raises the question of whether ancestral wisdom is self-validating. He claims authority from a chain of transmission: the wise men taught this, and they received it from the generation that held the land before foreigners arrived. The implication is that older wisdom is purer wisdom, uncorrupted by foreign influence. Job has implicitly challenged this by appealing to his own experience and to creation itself (12:7-9). The dialogue is now a contest between tradition (the friends) and experience (Job), with both sides claiming access to truth. Eliphaz's description of the wicked man as one who 'stretches out his hand against God' and 'runs against him with a thick shield' (verses 25-26) is particularly ironic: Eliphaz intends this as a warning to Job, but the reader recognizes that Job's legal challenge to God (chapter 13) is not defiance but desperate faith — Job confronts God because he still believes God is the only one who can vindicate him.
Connections
Eliphaz's question 'Were you the first man born?' (verse 7) may allude to Proverbs 8:22-31, where Wisdom was present before creation. The question implies Job claims primordial wisdom — which he does not. The portrait of the wicked in verses 20-35 parallels Psalm 73 (the prosperity of the wicked) and anticipates Bildad's extended version in chapter 18 and Zophar's in chapter 20. The friends' wicked-man speeches become increasingly elaborate across the second cycle, as if repetition and embellishment could make their theology more convincing. The image of the wicked man running against God with a thick-bossed shield (verse 26) anticipates the warrior imagery that God himself will use in chapters 39-41.
Job 15:1
וַ֭יַּעַן אֱלִיפַ֥ז הַתֵּמָנִ֗י וַיֹּאמַֽר׃
Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:
KJV Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said,
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The standard dialogue formula opens the second cycle. Eliphaz speaks first again, maintaining the order established in the first cycle. But the content will be sharply different from his measured opening in chapter 4.
Should a wise man answer with windy knowledge
and fill his belly with the east wind?
KJV Should a wise man utter vain knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind?
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Eliphaz opens with an insult. The da'at ruach ('knowledge of wind, windy knowledge') dismisses Job's arguments as empty air. The verb yemalle qadim bitno ('he fills his belly with the east wind') pictures Job as bloated with the scorching desert wind — the qadim ('east wind, sirocco') that withers everything it touches. Job's words are not merely empty; they are destructive.
Should he argue with useless talk,
with words that accomplish nothing?
KJV Should he reason with unprofitable talk? or with speeches wherewith he can do no good?
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The hokheach be-davar lo yiskon ('to argue with a word that is not useful') and millin lo yo'il bam ('words that have no benefit in them') continue the dismissal. The verb yiskon ('is useful, is profitable') and yo'il ('benefits, helps') are economic terms — Job's words have no value, no return on investment. Eliphaz evaluates speech pragmatically: does it produce repentance? If not, it is worthless.
You are even undermining the fear of God
and diminishing devotion before him.
KJV Yea, thou castest off fear, and restrainest prayer before God.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The accusation escalates. Job tafer yir'ah ('you break, annul, undermine the fear of God') — his words are not merely useless but dangerous to others' piety. The ve-tigra sichah lifnei El ('and you reduce/diminish prayer/meditation before God') means Job's public complaints discourage others from approaching God. Eliphaz frames Job's protest as a threat to the community's spiritual health.
Your guilt is teaching your mouth what to say;
you have chosen the tongue of the crafty.
KJV For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Eliphaz claims Job's avon ('guilt, iniquity') ye'allef pikha ('instructs your mouth, teaches your mouth') — Job's sin is the source of his arguments, not his innocence. The tivchar leshon arumim ('you choose the tongue of the cunning/crafty') accuses Job of deliberate rhetorical manipulation. The arumim ('crafty, shrewd') is the same word used for the serpent in Genesis 3:1 — the association may be intentional.
Your own mouth condemns you, not I.
Your own lips testify against you.
KJV Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I; yea, thine own lips testify against thee.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Eliphaz claims he is not the accuser — Job's own words convict him. The yarshi'akha pikha ('your mouth declares you guilty') and sefatekha ya'anu vakh ('your lips answer/testify against you') turn Job's speech into self-incrimination. The legal language is pointed: Job wanted a trial (chapter 13), and Eliphaz says the trial is already over — Job has convicted himself from the witness stand.
Were you the first human ever born?
Were you brought forth before the hills?
KJV Art thou the first man that was born? or wast thou made before the hills?
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Eliphaz mocks Job's claim to wisdom by asking whether Job has primordial knowledge. The ha-ri'shon adam tivvaled ('were you born as the first human?') asks whether Job was Adam — the first to exist, with unmediated access to God. The ve-lifnei geva'ot cholalta ('and before the hills were you brought forth?') echoes the language of Proverbs 8:25 where personified Wisdom was born before the hills. Job claims no such thing, but Eliphaz exaggerates to ridicule.
Did you listen in on God's secret council?
Do you limit wisdom to yourself alone?
KJV Hast thou heard the secret of God? and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself?
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The be-sod Eloah tishma ('in the council/secret assembly of God did you hear?') asks whether Job eavesdropped on the divine deliberations. The sod ('secret, intimate counsel, council') is the heavenly assembly where God makes decisions — the very assembly described in chapters 1-2, to which Job has no access. The irony is profound: Job has not heard the divine council, but neither has Eliphaz — yet Eliphaz (who claimed a night vision in 4:12-16) acts as though he has.
What do you know that we do not know?
What do you understand that is beyond us?
KJV What knowest thou, that we know not? what understandest thou, which is not in us?
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The double question mah yada'ta ve-lo neda ('what do you know that we do not know?') and tavin ve-lo immanu hu ('what do you understand that is not with us?') challenges Job to demonstrate superior knowledge. The implied answer: nothing. Eliphaz assumes the friends collectively possess all available wisdom, and Job has nothing to add.
Among us are the gray-haired and the very aged —
men older even than your father.
KJV With us are both the grayheaded and very aged men, much elder than thy father.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Eliphaz appeals to the authority of age. The sav ('gray-haired') and yashish ('very old, ancient') are among the friends' community. The kabbir me-avikha yamim ('greater in days than your father') claims a chain of authority that precedes even Job's father. In a culture where age conferred wisdom, this is a claim of overwhelming credentialed superiority.
Are God's consolations too small for you?
Is a word spoken gently to you not enough?
KJV Are the consolations of God small with thee? is there any secret thing with thee?
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The tanchumot El ('the consolations of God') refers to the comfort the friends have offered — which they consider to be God's comfort channeled through them. The ha-me'at mimmekha ('are they too small/insufficient for you?') accuses Job of rejecting divine comfort. The davar la'at immakh ('a word gently/softly with you') refers to their supposedly gentle approach. Eliphaz has apparently forgotten how gentle he has not been.
What has carried your heart away?
Why do your eyes flash?
KJV Why doth thine heart carry thee away? and what do thy eyes wink at,
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Eliphaz describes Job as emotionally uncontrolled. The mah yiqqachakha libbekha ('what takes you away, your heart?') means Job has been swept away by passion. The mah yirzemun einekha ('what do your eyes flash/wink at?') suggests either anger (flashing eyes) or conspiracy (winking). Eliphaz reads Job's emotional intensity as evidence of guilt rather than honest anguish.
That you turn your spirit against God
and let such words pour from your mouth?
KJV That thou turnest thy spirit against God, and lettest such words go out of thy mouth?
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The tashiv el El rukhekha ('you turn your spirit against God') describes open rebellion — Job's ruach ('spirit') is directed against the deity. The ve-hotseta mippikha millin ('and you bring forth from your mouth words') implies that Job's speech is a form of spiritual assault. Eliphaz frames Job's legal demand (chapter 13) as an attack on God.
What is a mortal, that he could be pure?
What is one born of woman, that he could be righteous?
KJV What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Eliphaz echoes Job's own concession in 14:4 ('who can bring something clean from what is unclean?') but uses it differently. The mah enosh ki yizkeh ('what is a mortal that he should be clean?') and ki yitsddaq yelud ishah ('that one born of woman should be righteous?') deny the possibility of human purity. The enosh ('mortal, frail human') and yelud ishah ('born of woman') emphasize weakness and biological limitation. Eliphaz's argument: you cannot be innocent because no one can be.
If God puts no trust in his holy ones,
and even the heavens are not pure in his sight —
KJV Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight:
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Eliphaz reprises his argument from 4:18 but expands it. If God bi-qedoshav lo ya'amin ('does not trust his holy ones') — the angelic beings — and shamayim lo zakku be-einav ('the heavens are not pure in his eyes'), then how much less a human? The qedoshim ('holy ones') are the members of the divine council. If they are not trustworthy, the argument from lesser to greater makes human righteousness impossible.
how much less a creature loathsome and corrupt —
a human being, who drinks injustice like water!
KJV How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water?
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The nit'av ('abominable, loathsome') and ne'elach ('corrupt, soured, curdled') describe the human condition as repulsive. The ish shoteh kha-mayim avlah ('a person who drinks injustice like water') is Eliphaz's most extreme characterization: humans do not merely commit sin occasionally — they consume it as naturally and constantly as drinking water. Sin is not an aberration but the human default. This totalizing view of human depravity leaves no room for Job's claim of relative innocence.
Let me show you — listen to me.
What I have seen, I will declare.
KJV I will shew thee, hear me; and that which I have seen I will declare;
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Eliphaz appeals to his own visionary authority: achavvekha ('I will show you, reveal to you'). The zeh chaziti ('this I have seen, envisioned') uses the verb chazah ('to see, to have a vision'), which connects to his earlier claim of a night vision (4:12-16). The va-asapperah ('and I will recount it') presents himself as a reliable witness to revealed truth.
What the wise have declared —
what they did not conceal from their fathers —
KJV Which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hid it:
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The chain of authority: chakhamim yaggidu ('wise men have declared') and lo khichadu me-avotam ('they did not hide from their fathers') — the wisdom has been transmitted openly across generations. Eliphaz grounds his argument in tradition, in contrast to Job's appeal to personal experience and creation's witness.
to whom alone the land was given,
before any foreigner had passed through it.
KJV Unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The lahem levaddam nittenah ha-arets ('to them alone the land was given') and lo avar zar betokham ('no stranger passed through their midst') describe an idealized original community — pure, uncontaminated by foreign influence. This may refer to the patriarchal era or to an idealized pre-invasion period. The claim is that the wisdom Eliphaz channels comes from an uncorrupted source. The zar ('stranger, foreigner, outsider') represents theological contamination.
All the days of the wicked, he writhes in torment.
The number of years hidden away for the tyrant —
KJV The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The extended portrait of the wicked man begins. The kol yemei rasha hu mitcholel ('all the days of the wicked he writhes, twists, trembles') describes lifelong inner torment. The mispar shanim nitspenu le-arits ('the number of years stored up for the tyrant') means the oppressor's remaining years are hidden from him — he lives in uncertainty about when his destruction will come. Eliphaz intends Job to see himself in this portrait.
Terrifying sounds fill his ears.
In the midst of peace, the destroyer comes upon him.
KJV A dreadful sound is in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The qol pechadim be-oznav ('the sound of terrors in his ears') describes the wicked man's constant auditory haunting — he hears threats even in silence. The ba-shalom shoded yevo'ennu ('in peace/prosperity a destroyer will come upon him') means security itself is illusory: the moment of greatest safety is the moment of greatest vulnerability. This is the psychology of guilt — the inability to rest even when no external threat exists.
He does not believe he will return from darkness.
He is marked for the sword.
KJV He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for of the sword.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The lo ya'amin shuv minni choshekh ('he does not believe in returning from darkness') describes a man who knows his doom is coming and cannot be escaped. The ve-tsafui hu elei charev ('and watched/waited for he is by the sword') means the sword is already appointed for him — it awaits him, patient and certain.
He wanders looking for bread — where is it?
He knows that a day of darkness stands ready at his hand.
KJV He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where is it? he knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The noded hu la-lechem ayyeh ('he wanders for bread — where?') describes the wicked man reduced to a beggar, searching for food. The yada ki nakhon be-yado yom choshekh ('he knows that prepared at his hand is a day of darkness') means the man carries his own doom like an object in his possession. The day of darkness is not distant but immediate — it is at his hand, ready to deploy.
Distress and anguish terrify him;
they overpower him like a king ready for battle.
KJV Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid; they shall prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The tsar u-metsuqah ('distress and anguish, trouble and pressure') yeva'atuhu ('terrify him') are personified as attackers. The titqefehu ke-melekh atid la-kidor ('they overpower him like a king prepared for attack') compares the wicked man's suffering to being assaulted by a king with a prepared army. The kidor ('battle, attack') implies organized, military-grade destruction directed at a single person.
Because he stretched out his hand against God
and set himself as a warrior against the Almighty.
KJV For he stretcheth out his hand against God, and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The cause of the wicked man's doom: natah el El yado ('he stretched out his hand against God') — direct, physical defiance. The ve-el Shaddai yitgabbar ('and against the Almighty he makes himself mighty, he acts as a warrior') describes someone who challenges divine power. Eliphaz intends this as a description of Job's legal challenge from chapter 13 — by demanding a hearing, Job has 'stretched out his hand against God.'
He charges at him with neck outstretched,
behind the thick bosses of his shields.
KJV He runneth upon him, even on his neck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers:
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The yarutz elav be-tsavvar ('he runs at him with neck/neck outstretched') pictures a headlong charge — reckless, defiant. The ba-avi gabbei maginav ('with the thickness of the backs/bosses of his shields') describes the attacking warrior's shield wall — multiple shields with reinforced central bosses, the heaviest defensive armor used for aggressive assault. The wicked man charges God as if God were a fortified city to be stormed.
Because he covered his face with his fat
and gathered thick flesh on his loins.
KJV Because he covereth his face with his fatness, and maketh collops of fat on his flanks.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The wicked man's prosperity is described physically: kissah fanav be-chelbo ('he covered his face with his fat') and va-ya'as pimah alei khasel ('and he made thick fat upon his flank/loins'). The chelev ('fat') represents abundance, self-indulgence, and insulation from suffering. The man has padded himself against the world — he is so prosperous that fat covers even his face. But this prosperity, Eliphaz argues, is the prelude to destruction.
He has settled in destroyed cities,
in houses no one should inhabit,
which are destined to become rubble.
KJV And he dwelleth in desolate cities, and in houses which no man inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The wicked man vayishkon arim nikhchadot ('dwells in cities that have been destroyed, desolated') — he builds his life on ruins. The battim lo yeshvu lamo ('houses that should not be inhabited') are structurally unsound. The asher hit'atedu le-gallim ('which are prepared/destined to become heaps of stone') means the buildings themselves are on their way to collapse. The metaphor is of a man who builds on condemned property — his prosperity is structurally doomed.
He will not grow rich; his wealth will not endure.
His possessions will not spread across the land.
KJV He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Three negations destroy the wicked man's economic future. Lo ye'eshar ('he will not become rich') — his wealth has a ceiling. Lo yaqum cheilo ('his wealth will not stand, endure') — what he has will not last. Lo yitteh la-arets minlam ('his acquisitions will not extend to the earth') — his holdings will not spread. Each negation intensifies: no growth, no durability, no expansion.
He will not escape the darkness.
Flame will dry up his shoots,
and by the breath of God's mouth he will be swept away.
KJV He shall not depart out of darkness; the flame shall dry up his branches, and by the breath of his mouth shall he go away.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The lo yasur minni choshekh ('he will not turn away from darkness') — the darkness from verse 22 is inescapable. The yonaqto teyabbesh shalhevet ('his tender shoot the flame will dry up') returns to the tree metaphor from chapter 14 but inverts it: where Job said a tree's shoot could revive, Eliphaz says the wicked man's shoot will be burned. The ve-yasur be-ruach piv ('and he will be removed by the breath of his mouth') — God's breath, or possibly the wicked man's own breath, will carry him away.
Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself,
for emptiness will be his reward.
KJV Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity: for vanity shall be his recompence.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The al ya'amen ba-shav nit'ah ('let him not believe/trust in emptiness, he who is deceived') warns against self-deception: the wicked man's confidence in his prosperity is shav ('emptiness, vanity, falsehood'). The ki shav tihyeh temurato ('for emptiness will be his exchange/recompense') means he will receive nothing of value — his investment in wickedness will yield a return of zero.
Before his time, it will be fulfilled.
His palm branch will not stay green.
KJV It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be green.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The be-lo yomo timmale ('not in his day it will be completed/filled') means the wicked man's end will come prematurely — before his natural time. The ve-khippato lo ra'ananah ('and his palm frond/branch will not be green/flourishing') uses vegetation imagery again: the wicked man's life, like a palm branch, will wither before its season. Premature death is the marker of divine judgment.
He will shed his unripe grapes like a vine;
he will cast off his blossoms like an olive tree.
KJV He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Two agricultural images of aborted fruitfulness. The yachmos ka-gefen bisro ('he will drop violently like a vine his unripe grape') — the vine sheds its fruit before it matures. The ve-yashlekh ka-zayit nitsato ('and he will throw off like an olive tree his blossom') — the olive drops its flowers before they become olives. The wicked man's projects, relationships, and legacy will all be terminated before reaching maturity.
For the company of the godless is barren,
and fire consumes the tents of bribery.
KJV For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The adat chanef ('the congregation/company of the godless/hypocrites') will be galmud ('barren, desolate, childless') — their community will produce nothing lasting. The esh akhelah ohalei shochad ('fire has consumed the tents of bribery') destroys the physical dwellings of the corrupt. The shochad ('bribe') represents the mechanism of the wicked man's prosperity — he got rich through corruption, and corruption's rewards are consumed by fire.
They conceive trouble and give birth to wickedness;
their womb prepares deceit.
KJV They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth deceit.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The closing verse uses birth imagery for evil. The haroh amal ('conceiving trouble') and yalod aven ('giving birth to wickedness') picture sin as a pregnancy that inevitably delivers its offspring. The u-vitnam takhin mirmah ('and their belly/womb prepares deceit') completes the metaphor: the interior of the wicked is a womb that gestates deception. The language echoes Isaiah 59:4 and Psalm 7:14. Eliphaz's portrait of the wicked is complete: from inner torment (verses 20-24) to defiance of God (25-26) to fat prosperity (27) to inevitable collapse (28-34) to the fundamental nature of evil as a self-generating, self-reproducing force (35).