| 1 | Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered: |
| 2 | “Can a mortal be of use to God? Can even the wisest be of service to him? |
| 3 | Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are righteous, or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless? |
| 4 | Is it for your piety that he reproves you, and enters into judgment with you? |
| 5 | Is not your wickedness great? There is no end to your iniquities. |
| 6 | For you have exacted pledges from your family for no reason, and stripped the naked of their clothing. |
| 7 | You have given no water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry. |
| 8 | The powerful possess the land, and the favored live in it. |
| 9 | You have sent widows away empty-handed, and the arms of the orphans you have crushed. |
| 10 | Therefore snares are around you, and sudden terror overwhelms you, |
| 11 | or darkness so that you cannot see; a flood of water covers you. |
| 12 | “Is not God high in the heavens? See the highest stars, how lofty they are! |
| 13 | Therefore you say, ‘What does God know? Can he judge through the deep darkness? |
| 14 | Thick clouds enwrap him, so that he does not see, and he walks on the dome of heaven.’ |
| 15 | Will you keep to the old way that the wicked have trod? |
| 16 | They were snatched away before their time; their foundation was washed away by a flood. |
| 17 | They said to God, ‘Leave us alone,’ and ‘What can the Almighty do to us?’ |
| 18 | Yet he filled their houses with good things — but the plans of the wicked are repugnant to me. |
| 19 | The righteous see it and are glad; the innocent laugh them to scorn, |
| 20 | saying, ‘Surely our adversaries are cut off, and what they left, the fire has consumed.’ |
| 21 | “Agree with God, and be at peace; in this way good will come to you. |
| 22 | Receive instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in your heart. |
| 23 | If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored, if you remove unrighteousness from your tents, |
| 24 | if you treat gold like dust, and gold of Ophir like the stones of the torrent-bed, |
| 25 | and if the Almighty is your gold and your precious silver, |
| 26 | then you will delight yourself in the Almighty, and lift up your face to God. |
| 27 | You will pray to him, and he will hear you, and you will pay your vows. |
| 28 | You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you, and light will shine on your ways. |
| 29 | When others are humiliated, you say it is pride; for he saves the humble. |
| 30 | He will deliver even those who are guilty; they will escape because of the cleanness of your hands.” |