17 “I will show you, listen to me;
that which I have seen I will declare: 18 (Which wise men have told by their fathers,
and have not hidden it; 19 to whom alone the land was given,
and no stranger passed among them): 20 the wicked man writhes in pain all his days,
even the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor. 21 A sound of terrors is in his ears.
In prosperity the destroyer shall come on him. 22 He doesn’t believe that he shall return out of darkness.
He is waited for by the sword. 23 He wanders abroad for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’
He knows that the day of darkness is ready at his hand. 24 Distress and anguish make him afraid.
They prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle. 25 Because he has stretched out his hand against God,
and behaves himself proudly against the Almighty; 26 he runs at him with a stiff neck,
with the thick shields of his bucklers; 27 because he has covered his face with his fatness,
and gathered fat on his thighs. 28 He has lived in desolate cities,
in houses which no one inhabited,
which were ready to become heaps. 29 He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue,
neither shall their possessions be extended on the earth. 30 He shall not depart out of darkness.
The flame shall dry up his branches.
By the breath of God’s mouth shall he go away. 31 Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself;
for emptiness shall be his reward. 32 It shall be accomplished before his time.
His branch shall not be green. 33 He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine,
and shall cast off his flower as the olive tree. 34 For the company of the godless shall be barren,
and fire shall consume the tents of bribery. 35 They conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.
Their heart prepares deceit.”
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Job 15:17-35
Commentary on Job 15:17-35
(Read Job 15:17-35)
Eliphaz maintains that the wicked are certainly miserable: whence he would infer, that the miserable are certainly wicked, and therefore Job was so. But because many of God's people have prospered in this world, it does not therefore follow that those who are crossed and made poor, as Job, are not God's people. Eliphaz shows also that wicked people, particularly oppressors, are subject to continual terror, live very uncomfortably, and perish very miserably. Will the prosperity of presumptuous sinners end miserably as here described? Then let the mischiefs which befal others, be our warnings. Though no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous, nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruits of righteousness to them that are exercised thereby. No calamity, no trouble, however heavy, however severe, can rob a follower of the Lord of his favour. What shall separate him from the love of Christ?