Eliphaz Speaks: Job's Wickedness Is Great

1 Then 1Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:
2 2"Can a man be profitable to God? Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself.
3 Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are in the right, or is it gain to him if you 3make your ways blameless?
4 Is it for your fear of him that he reproves you and 4enters into judgment with you?
5 Is not your evil abundant? There is no end to your iniquities.
6 For you have 5exacted pledges of your brothers for nothing 6and stripped the naked of their clothing.
7 You have given no water to the weary to drink, and you have 7withheld bread from the hungry.
8 8The man with power possessed the land, and 9the favored man lived in it.
9 You have 10sent widows away empty, and 11the arms of 12the fatherless were crushed.
10 Therefore 13snares are all around you, and sudden terror overwhelms you,
11 or 14darkness, so that you cannot see, and a 15flood of 16water covers you.
12 "Is not God high in the heavens? See 17the highest stars, how lofty they are!
13 But you say, 18'What does God know? Can he judge through 19the deep darkness?
14 20Thick clouds veil him, so that he does not see, and he walks on the vault of heaven.'
15 Will you keep to the old way that wicked men have trod?
16 They were snatched away 21before their time; their foundation was washed away.
17 They said to God, 22'Depart from us,' and 23'What can the Almighty do to us?'a
18 Yet he filled their houses with good things-- but 24the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
19 25The righteous see it and are glad; the innocent one 26mocks at them,
20 saying, 'Surely our adversaries are cut off, and what they left 27the fire has consumed.'
21 28"Agree with God, and 29be at peace; thereby good will come to you.
22 Receive instruction from 30his mouth, and 31lay up his words in your heart.
23 If you 32return to the Almighty you will be 33built up; if you 34remove injustice far from your tents,
24 if you lay gold in 35the dust, and gold of 36Ophir among the stones of the torrent-bed,
25 then the Almighty will be your gold and your precious silver.
26 For then you 37will delight yourself in the Almighty and 38lift up your face to God.
27 You will 39make your prayer to him, and he will hear you, and you will 40pay your vows.
28 You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you, and 41light will shine on your ways.
29 For when they are humbled you say, 'It is because of pride';b but he saves 42the lowly.
30 He 43delivers even the one who is not innocent,c who will be delivered through 44the cleanness of your hands."