Paraphrase on the Book of Job, Chapter 15
CHAP. XV.
1. THen Eliphaz the Themanite1. Then answered Eliphaz the Themanite, and said, being further confirmed in his ill conceit of Job, by his discourse, thus the second time replies upon him.
2. Is it the property of a wise man,2. Should a wise man utter vaine knowledge, and fill his belly with the East-wind? such an one as thou wouldest be thought to be, under a pretence of much knowledge thus to abound in vaine discourse, and satisfie himselfe with feeding upon, not onelyonly unprofitable and airy, but hurtfull reasonings; blasting thereby all hopes of better to himselfe?
3. Or if thou wert wise, as thou3. Should hee reason with unprofitable talke? or with speeches wherein hee can doe no good? saiest, why then hast thou pleaded for thy selfe all this while with so much empty and fruitlesse talke, no whit serving to thine advantage, but contrarily making against thee, both in respect of thine uprightnesse which thou talkest of, and the ease which wee wish thee?
4. For thy discourse hath beene4. Yea, thou castest off feare, and restrainest prayer before God. most presumptuous and arrogant, savouring of nothing but folly and hypocrisie, in all this time neither humbling thy selfe under the hand of God, nor calling upon him for grace and mercy, which is the only upright, wise, and safe way.
5. But in stead thereof hast made5. For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty. thy mouth the trumpet of thine owne evill heart, rather choosing deceitfully to make good an evill cause, than to confesse thy sinne.
6. So that thou hast no cause to6. Thine owne mouth condemneth thee, and not I: yea, thine owne lips testifie against thee. thinke hardly of me and my fellowes, as if wee did unjustly condemne thee, for thine owne mouth is evidence enough against thee.
7. Art thou the onelyonly man of experience7. Art thou the first man that was borne? or wast thou made before the hills? or knowledge, beyond all that now is, or that ever was?
8. Hath God made thee of his privie8. Hast thou heard the secret of God? and dost thou restraine wisedome to thy selfe? councell, and told thee more than hee hath revealed to others, and dost thou thinke all the world fooles beside thy selfe?
9. What knowest thou that wee9. What knowest thou that we know not? What understandst thou, which is not in us? know not? What understandest thou more than wee?
10. Nay, me thinkes modesty and10. With us are both the gray-headed, and very aged men, much elder than thy father. reason should perswade thee, that wee are abler to instruct thee, than thou us, wee being more for number, and having the advantage of experience and observation (which maketh wise men) by reason of our yeeres, which are so farre beyond thine, that thy father was younger than some of us.
11. And wherein canst thou say11. Are the consolations of God small with thee? Is there any secret thing with thee? that wee have erred; for have we not shewed thee the true way to be happy and freed from these miseries? and dost thou set so light by our advise, which tendeth to so good an end as to reconcile thee with God? Dost thou know any better way to compasse thy happinesse than this which wee have told thee? If thou dost, it is such an one as neither wee nor our fathers never knew nor heard of.
12. If not, why dost thou give thine12. Why doth thine heart carry thee away? and what doe thine eyes winke at? heart such liberty to rove out of the right way, and pervesly shut thine eyes against the truth, scornfully rejecting it?
13. For thou in stead of humbling13. That thou turnest thy spirit against God, and lettest such words go out of thy mouth? thy selfe under the punishment of thy sinne, sufferest thy selfe with an incensed minde to contest against God, and to speake such proud impenitent speeches, justifying thine owne righteousnesse, and maintaining (contrary to truth and equity) that these punishments are not laid upon thee for thy sinnes.
14. Whereas the perfectest man14. What is man, that he should be cleane? and he that is borne of a woman, that hee should be righteous? living is uncleane before God, and justly liable to his wrath; for there neither is, nor ever was, or can be, any that can justly affirme that of himselfe which thou arrogatest, to wit, that he is righteous in the sight of God.
15. Why man, his excellentest creatures,15. Behold, he putteth no trust in his Saints; yea, the heavens are not cleane in his sight. the glorified Angells, which indeed are, and ever shall be, Saints in heaven, yet they stand not in that holy and happy estate, by their owne power and sufficiency, but by the meere decree of God, which in grace hee past upon them, knowing, that else they would have sinned, as other their fellowes did, which, though they were Angells, which of all his creatures are the best and perfectest, and dwelt in heaven, which of all places is the best and holiest; yet even in them, and there, his holy and pure eyes found uncleannesse.
16. How much more then must16. How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water? man that dwells here on earth, needs be exceeding sinfull and uncleane in his sight, who does as familiarly sinne, as eate and drinke, and to whom it is naturally as pleasing as water is to one athirst.
17. Thou hast had leave to speake17. I will shew thee, heare me: and that which I have seene I will declare. thy minde, and now give mee the like liberty, and the like eare, and I will shew thee no fable, but a known truth; which both I have learned out of mine owne experience;
18. And which hath not been mine18. Which wise men have told me from their fathers, and have not hid it? observation onelyonly, but hath received confirmation from wise men of former times, who have carefully taught it as a doctrinall truth from the tradition of their forefathers also; and have not concealed it from us their successours, as is well enough knowne.
19. I say, from their fathers, the first19. Unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them. heads of the world, who in those daies of prime antiquity were free from the injuries and molestations of forrainers and enemies (which we are too apt to make the sole or principall cause of our suffering) people being then few and rare in the earth, and knowne to one another.
20. Even this, the wicked mans portion20. The wicked man travelleth with paine all his daies, and the number of yeares is hidden to the oppressour. in this life, which is; That God is wont to lay upon him lasting paines, and (weary of his life) to make him waste his daies in discomfort, and that the oppressours gaine is to get the cutting short the thread of his owne life in judgement.
21. And a terrifying conscience21. A dreadfull sound is in his eares; in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him. shall sill him with distracting feares; together with an unexpected ruine in the midst of all his wealth and worldly glory.
22. And then, when God has cast22. Hee believeth not that hee shall returne out of darkenesse, and hee is waited for of the sword. him into affliction, to be without all hope of better, his heart telling him that God will never take his hand off againe, but that in stead of being delivered from this, a further evill, even utter destruction waits upon him.
23. When the Lord hath made him23. He wandereth abroad for bread, saying. Where is it? ke knoweth that the day of darknesse is ready at his hand. taste adversity, and thereby ruined his comfortable subsistance in the creature, then shall he through want of acqua intance with God and faith in him, in a wrong way impatiently, indirectly, and fruitlessely seeke to relieve and helpe himselfe; his affrighted conscience and distrustful heart (quite banishing all hope of better) mis-doubting every day to be his doomes-day.
24. He shall live in continuall feare24. Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid; they shall prevaile against him, as a King ready to the battle. by reason of his inward and outward trouble and griefe, which he shall not be able to avoid nor resist, but shall be brought under their extreme pressure, because of the vehement fury and irresistable power wherewith on all hands they shall assault him.
25. And there is reason for it, why25. For he stretcheth out his hand against God, and strengtheneth himselfe against the Allmighty. God should thus proceed against him, because he behaves himself as a proud enemy toward God, not walking humbly before him; but disobediently and presumptuously through an overweening opinion, sticketh not to cast away all feare, and arrogantly to make head against even the Almighty Lord of heaven and earth, forgetting him to be such an one, through the haughty and presumptuous imaginations of his heart.
26. Daring with a full forehead26. He runneth upon him, even on his necke, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers: and strange kinde of arrogancy to encounter God, even upon the points of his justice and righteous judgements, wherein hee is the ablest to give us the shocke, and which is the dangerousest for us to oppose or question.
27. And the cause of this his swelling27. Because hee covereth his face with his fatnesse, and maketh collops of fat on his flanckes pride against God, is his abounding in the creature, and his voluptuous usage of it.
28. Together with his large signiories28. And he dwelleth in desolate cities, and in houses which no man inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps. and ample possessions, made up out of the ruines of other mens livelihoods and habitations, which they have beene forced to relinquish and leave desolate through his oppressions.
29. Yet for all this confident preparation,29. Hee shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue; neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth. he shall come short of his aime; for hee shall neither attaine that hight of riches which hee strives for, or the stability of an happy estate which hee promiseth himselfe by them, neither shall he perpetuate his name with that renowne and preheminence, that hee makes confident of to himselfe and his posterity thereby.
30. But in steed thereof, hee shall30. Hee shall not depart out of darknesse, the flame shall dry up his branches, and by the breath of his mouth shall he goe away. be cast into calamitous poverty and reproch under which he shall irrecoverably lie, all his flourishing state shall wither, and his large posterity be utterly consumed through the indignation of the Lord, and when hee hath lived to taste and see this, then at last God shall breath forth his finall displeasure upon him, and so shall hee quite perish, who but ere-while promised to himselfe certaine felicity.
31. Let not the man then that hath31. Let not him that is deceived, trust in vanity: for vanity shall be his recompence. already miscarried by his foolish pride, still take that way, and be vainly blinded by it, for hee shall still receive the same reward, vanity and misery shall be his recompence.
32. In his owne life hee shall see32. It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be greene. his pride have a fall, his eyes shall behold his present happinesse and future confidence come to nought.33. He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the Olive.
33. He shall live to see the untimely death of his children, and the utter losse of his after expectation.
34. For it is certaine that God will34. For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of briberie. unnest & ruinate the hypocritestocke and family, and the fire of his wrath shall consume what they have built up by secret fraud and injustice.
35. So that in the end all their mischievous35. They conceive mischiefe, and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth deceit. devises prove vaine and ineffectuall, and all their painfull travell to compasse ambitious designes, is but lost labour, and shall end in selfedeceit.