Eliphaz Speaks: Job’s Wickedness Is Great
22 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:
2 “Can a man be profitable to God,
as he who is wise may be profitable to himself?
3 Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that you are righteous?
Or is it gain to Him that you make your ways blameless?
4 “Is it because of your fear of Him that He corrects you,
and enters into judgment with you?
5 Is not your wickedness great,
and your iniquity infinite?
6 For you have taken a pledge from your brother for nothing,
and stripped the naked of their clothing.
7 You have not given water to the weary to drink,
and you have withheld bread from the hungry.
8 But as for the mighty man, he possessed the earth,
and the honorable man lived in it.
9 You have sent widows away empty,
and the strength of the fatherless was crushed.
10 Therefore snares are all around you,
and sudden fear troubles you,
11 or darkness, so that you cannot see;
and an abundance of waters covers you.
12 “Is not God in the height of heaven?
And see the height of the stars, how high they are!
13 And you say, ‘What does God know?
Can He judge through the dark cloud?
14 Thick clouds are His covering, so He cannot see;
and He walks above the circle of heaven.’
15 Will you keep to the old way,
that wicked men have trod?
16 They were cut down before their time;
their foundations were swept away by a flood.
17 They said to God, ‘Depart from us,’
and, ‘What can the Almighty do to us?’
18 Yet He filled their houses with good things;
but the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
19 “The righteous see it and are glad,
and the innocent laugh them to scorn:
20 ‘Surely our adversaries are cut down,
and the fire consumes their remnant.’
21 “Now acquaint yourself with Him and be at peace;
thereby good will come to you.
22 Receive, I pray, the teaching from His mouth,
and lay up His words in your heart.
23 If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up;
you will put away iniquity far from your tents.
24 Then you will lay up gold as dust,
and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks.
25 Yes, the Almighty will be your gold
and your precious silver;
26 for then you will delight yourself in the Almighty,
and will lift up your face unto God.
27 You will make your prayer to Him, and He will hear you,
and you will pay your vows.
28 You will also declare a matter, and it will be established unto you;
and the light will shine upon your ways.
29 When men are cast down, and you say, ‘There is a time of exaltation!’
then He will save the humble person.
30 He will even deliver one who is not innocent;
he will be delivered by the purity of your hands.”
