Job 15

In his second speech Eliphaz grows sharper. He accuses Job of empty talk, pride and irreverence, and he appeals to the age of tradition. He then paints a long picture of the wicked man’s torment, implying that Job’s suffering proves Job is that man. His facts about God’s justice are often true in general, but he wrongly applies them to Job.

Job 15:1-3

Eliphaz opens with scorn. A wise man, he says, would not fill himself with hot wind, meaning noisy, scorching, worthless talk. He treats Job’s honest complaints as empty argument. Suffering people are often met this way, with their pain called mere words.

BSA: wind (“spirit, or breath”): Eliphaz calls Job’s speech mere breath, a burning gust with nothing solid in it.

Job 15:4

Eliphaz charges that Job’s words weaken reverence for God and shut down quiet devotion. He thinks Job’s protests will lead others to stop respecting God. Job in fact still clings to God, even while questioning Him.

BSA: meditation (“devotion, quiet reflection”): The charge is that Job’s talk crowds out the quiet, prayerful thought that draws people near to God.

See also: Job 1:22.

Job 15:5-6

Eliphaz says Job’s sin is teaching his tongue, so his clever words expose his guilt. He claims he needs no accusation, since Job’s own lips testify against him. This is a harsh judgment, and the book shows it is unfair.

BSA: crafty (“prudent, cunning, deceitful”): Eliphaz suggests Job is using sly, slippery speech to cover his guilt.

Job 15:7-8

With sarcasm Eliphaz asks if Job is the first man, older than the hills, or someone admitted to God’s private council. He is mocking Job’s claim to understand his own case better than others. The questions humble Job, though they also puff up Eliphaz.

BSA: council (“secret meeting, intimate conversation”): The word suggests God’s private counsel, where only those He admits could learn His reasons.

See also: Job 38:4; Jeremiah 23:18.

Job 15:9-10

Eliphaz insists the friends know nothing less than Job does. He leans on the weight of age and tradition, noting that gray-haired elders stand with them. Age often brings wisdom, but it cannot replace hearing from God, as the end of the book shows.

BSA: gray-haired (“with a long life, aged”): Eliphaz leans on the authority of long life and long-held belief.

Job 15:11

Eliphaz thinks the friends have offered God’s comforts and gentle words, and Job has brushed them aside. He sees himself as a mild messenger. Yet their speeches have been anything but gentle, and Job has called them miserable comforters.

BSA: gently (“softly, in a whisper”): Eliphaz imagines his rebukes were quiet and kind, though Job has found them cutting.

See also: Job 16:2.

Job 15:12-13

Eliphaz says Job’s heart has run away with him, with flashing eyes and angry words aimed at God. He reads Job’s anguished questions as rebellion. The picture is of a man swept along by his emotions, which Eliphaz thinks is a sign of pride.

BSA: flash (“blink, wink, or gleam with excitement or mockery”): The eyes are pictured as flashing with scorn or defiance.

Job 15:14-16

Eliphaz declares that no one born of woman is truly pure. If even heavenly beings fall short in God’s sight, how much more a person who drinks sin like water? As a general truth about human sinfulness this is sound. He wrongly uses it as a club against Job.

BSA: drinks (“consumes, indulges in”): Sin is pictured as something taken in eagerly and naturally, as a thirsty person drinks. holy ones (“saints, set apart ones”): This probably points to heavenly beings, showing that even the highest creatures depend wholly on God.

See also: Romans 3:10-12; Job 4:17-19.

Job 15:17-19

Eliphaz now says he will teach what he has seen and what wise forefathers handed down. He appeals to ancestral tradition, pure from outside influence. Tradition can carry truth, but he is offering his own view as settled fact.

BSA: seen (“perceived, had a vision of”): Eliphaz claims his teaching rests on direct observation and insight, not only guesswork.

See also: Job 8:8-10.

Job 15:20-24

Eliphaz describes the wicked man as living in dread all his days. Even in prosperity he hears terror, and he fears destruction and the sword. His point is that the wicked are never at peace. Many Christians see something true here about a guilty conscience, but not as proof of Job’s sin.

BSA: prosperity (“peace, wellness, completeness”): Even when life seems whole and peaceful, the wicked man cannot rest, for ruin may strike suddenly. terrify (“to startle, cause sudden fear”): The wicked are suddenly frightened, as by an unexpected attack.

See also: Proverbs 28:1.

Job 15:25-26

Eliphaz explains the cause: the wicked man stretches out his hand against God and charges Him like a soldier behind a heavy shield. He is picturing defiant pride. In effect he is hinting that Job’s complaints belong to this kind of rebellion.

BSA: vaunted (“exalted, proudly lifted”): The man puffs himself up and acts mighty, as if he could stand against God.

Job 15:27-28

Prosperous and fat, the wicked man seems secure. Yet Eliphaz says he will end up living in ruined towns and empty houses. Wealth and ease give no lasting protection, which is a warning the Bible often repeats.

BSA: fat (“richness, abundance”): The fat face pictures comfort and pride that feel secure but cannot last.

See also: Psalm 73:3-7; Luke 12:16-21.

Job 15:29-30

His riches will not last, nor spread across the land. Fire will wither his branches and God’s breath will blow him away. Eliphaz speaks as though Job’s loss of wealth, children and health fits this pattern, though Job knows he has not earned it.

BSA: breath (“spirit, wind”): God’s breath or spirit can remove the wicked as easily as a wind carries off chaff.

See also: Job 4:9.

Job 15:31-33

Eliphaz warns against trusting in emptiness, which will only pay back emptiness. The wicked man is like a tree that loses its fruit and blossoms before its time. Whatever is built on falsehood cannot bear lasting fruit.

BSA: emptiness (“vanity, falsehood”): What the man trusts in is hollow, so it can only reward him with the same hollowness.

See also: Psalm 1:3-4.

Job 15:34-35

The company of the godless will be barren and fire will take the tents built by bribes. Eliphaz closes with the picture of conceiving trouble and giving birth to evil. Wickedness grows like a pregnancy and finally produces its own harm.

BSA: conceive (“to become pregnant with ideas, hatch plans”): Evil begins as an inner plan and then grows until it brings forth trouble.

See also: Psalm 7:14; James 1:15.