Third Series of Speeches

1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:

2 Can a man be of any use to God?

Can even a wise man be of use to him?

3 Does it delight the Almighty if you are righteous?

Does he profit if you perfect your behavior?  *

4 Does he correct you and take you to court

because of your piety?  *

5 Isn’t your wickedness abundant

and aren’t your iniquities endless?

6 For you took collateral  * from your brothers without cause,

stripping off their clothes and leaving them naked.

7 You gave no water to the thirsty

and withheld food from the famished,  *

8 while the land belonged to a powerful man

and an influential man lived on it.

9 You sent widows away empty-handed,

and the strength of the fatherless  * was  *  crushed.

10 Therefore snares surround you,

and sudden dread terrifies  *  you,

11 or darkness, so you cannot see,

and a flood of water covers you.  *

12 Isn’t God as high as the heavens?

And look at the highest stars — how lofty they are!

13 Yet you say, "What does God know?

Can he judge through total darkness?  *

14 Clouds  * veil him so that he cannot see,

as he walks on the circle of the sky."

15 Will you continue on the ancient path

that wicked men have walked?

16 They were snatched away before their time,

and their foundations  * were washed away by a river.

17 They were the ones who said to God, "Leave us alone! "

and "What can the Almighty do to us? "  *,*

18 But it was he who filled their houses with good things.

The counsel of the wicked is far from me!

19 The righteous see this and rejoice;

the innocent mock them, saying,  *

20 "Surely our opponents are destroyed,

and fire has consumed what they left behind."  *

21 Come to terms with God and be at peace;  *

in this way  * good will come to you.

22 Receive instruction from his mouth,  *

and place his sayings  * in your heart.

23 If you return  * to the Almighty, you will be renewed.

If you banish injustice from your tent

24 and consign your gold to the dust,

the gold of Ophir  * to the stones in the wadis,

25 the Almighty will be your gold

and your finest silver.

26 Then you will delight  *  in the Almighty

and lift up your face to God.  *

27 You will pray to him, and he will hear you,  *

and you will fulfill your vows.

28 When you make a decision, it will be carried out,  *

and light will shine on your ways.  *

29 When others are humiliated and you say, "Lift them up,"

God will save the humble.  *,*

30 He will even rescue the guilty one,

who will be rescued by the purity of your hands.  *