Eliphaz: Can a Man Be of Use to God?

¹ Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:

² “Can a man be of use to God?

Can even a wise man benefit Him?

³ Does it delight the Almighty that you are righteous?

Does He profit if your ways are blameless?

⁴ Is it for your reverence that He rebukes you

and enters into judgment against you?

⁵ Is not your wickedness great?

Are not your iniquities endless?

⁶ For you needlessly demanded security from your brothers

and deprived the naked^* of their clothing.

⁷ You gave no water to the weary

and withheld food from the famished,

⁸ while the land belonged to a mighty man,

and a man of honor 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 peril terrifies you;

¹¹ it is so dark you cannot see,

and a flood of water covers you.

¹² Is not God as high as the heavens?

Look at the highest stars, how lofty they are!

¹³ Yet you say: ‘What does God know?

Does He judge through thick darkness?^*

¹⁴ Thick clouds veil Him so He does not see us

as He traverses the vault of heaven.’

¹⁵ Will you stay on the ancient path

that wicked men have trod?

¹⁶ They were snatched away before their time,

and their foundations were swept away^* by a flood.

¹⁷ They said to God, ‘Depart from us.

What can the Almighty do to us?’

¹⁸ But it was He who filled their houses with good things;

so I stay far from the counsel of the wicked.

¹⁹ The righteous see it and are glad;

the innocent mock them:

²⁰ ‘Surely our foes are destroyed,

and fire has consumed their excess.’

²¹ Reconcile now and be at peace^* with Him;

thereby 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 injustice from your tents

²⁴ and consign your gold to the dust

and the gold of Ophir to the stones of the ravines,

²⁵ then the Almighty will be your gold

and the finest silver for you.

²⁶ Surely 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 Your decisions will be carried out,

and light will shine on your ways.

²⁹ When men are brought low and you say, ‘Lift them up!’

then He will save the lowly.

³⁰ He will deliver even^* one who is not innocent,

rescuing him^* through the cleanness of your hands.”