Eliphaz: is your evil not great?
1Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered: 2Can a valiant man be of any use to God? The wise one is of use only to himself. 3Does it please the Almighty that you are righteous? Does he gain anything if you make your ways blameless? 4Is it for your reverence that he rebukes you, that he goes to court with you? 5Is your evil not great? Is there no end to your guilt? 6For you took your brothers’ goods in pledge for nothing and stripped the clothes off the naked. 7You gave the weary no water to drink and held back bread from the hungry. 8The strong-armed one holds the land, and whoever is shown favor settles on it. 9You sent widows away empty-handed, and the arms of orphans were crushed. 10That is why snares are all around you and sudden terror unnerves you, 11or darkness, so that you cannot see, and a flood of water covers you. 12Is Eloah not in the height of heaven? Look at the topmost stars — how high they are! 13And you say, “What does God know? Can he judge through the thick cloud? 14Clouds are a screen to him and he cannot see; he walks the vault of the heavens.” 15Will you keep to the ancient road that men of wickedness have trodden, 16who were snatched away before their time, whose foundation a river washed out — 17who said to God, “Leave us alone!” and, “What can the Almighty do to them?” 18Yet it was he who filled their houses with good things. The counsel of the wicked is far from me. 19The righteous see it and rejoice; the innocent laughs them to scorn: 20“Surely those who rose against us are wiped out, and fire has devoured what was left of them.”
Come to terms with him and be at peace
21Come to terms with him and be at peace; that way good will come to you. 22Take instruction from his mouth and lay up his words in your heart. 23If you return to the Almighty you will be rebuilt, if you put injustice far from your tent. 24Lay your gold ore down in the dust, the gold of Ophir among the stones of the wadis, 25and the Almighty himself will be your gold, your silver piled high. 26For then you will take delight in the Almighty and lift your face to Eloah. 27You will pray to him and he will hear you, and you will pay your vows. 28You will decide on a matter and it will stand, and light will shine on your ways. 29When men are brought low and you say, “Lift them up,” he saves the one with downcast eyes. 30He will rescue even the one who is not innocent; he will be rescued through the cleanness of your hands.
