17 I shew thee—hearken to me—And this I have seen and declare: 18 Which the wise declare—And have not hid—from their fathers. 19 To them alone was the land given, And a stranger passed not over into their midst: 20 'All days of the wicked he is paining himself, And few years have been laid up for the terrible one. 21 A fearful voice 'is' in his ears, In peace doth a destroyer come to him. 22 He believeth not to return from darkness, And watched 'is' he for the sword. 23 He is wandering for bread—'Where 'is' it?' He hath known that ready at his hand Is a day of darkness. 24 Terrify him do adversity and distress, They prevail over him As a king ready for a boaster. 25 For he stretched out against God his hand, And against the Mighty he maketh himself mighty. 26 He runneth unto Him with a neck, With thick bosses of his shields. 27 For he hath covered his face with his fat, And maketh vigour over 'his' confidence. 28 And he inhabiteth cities cut off, houses not dwelt in, That have been ready to become heaps. 29 He is not rich, nor doth his wealth rise, Nor doth he stretch out on earth their continuance. 30 He turneth not aside from darkness, His tender branch doth a flame dry up, And he turneth aside at the breath of His mouth! 31 Let him not put credence in vanity, He hath been deceived, For vanity is his recompence. 32 Not in his day is it completed, And his bending branch is not green. 33 He shaketh off as a vine his unripe fruit, And casteth off as an olive his blossom. 34 For the company of the profane 'is' gloomy, And fire hath consumed tents of bribery. 35 To conceive misery, and to bear iniquity, Even their heart doth prepare 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?