Eliphaz: Can a Man Be of Use to God?

1Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:

2“Can a man be of use to God?

Can even a wise man benefit Him?

3Does it delight the Almighty that you are righteous?

Does He profit if your ways are blameless?

4Is it for your reverence that He rebukes you

and enters into judgment against you?

5Is not your wickedness great?

Are not your iniquities endless?

6For you needlessly demanded security from your brothers

and deprived the naked of their clothing.

7You gave no water to the weary

and withheld food from the famished,

8while the land belonged to a mighty man,

and a man of honor lived on it.

9You sent widows away empty-handed,

and the strength of the fatherless was crushed.

10Therefore snares surround you,

and sudden peril terrifies you;

11it is so dark you cannot see,

and a flood of water covers you.

12Is not God as high as the heavens?

Look at the highest stars, how lofty they are!

13Yet you say: ‘What does God know?

Does He judge through thick darkness?

14Thick clouds veil Him so He does not see us

as He traverses the vault of heaven.a’

15Will you stay on the ancient path

that wicked men have trod?

16They were snatched away before their time,

and their foundations were swept away by a flood.

17They said to God, ‘Depart from us.

What can the Almighty do to us?’

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

so I stay far from the counsel of the wicked.

19The righteous see it and are glad;

the innocent mock them:

20‘Surely our foes are destroyed,

and fire has consumed their excess.’

21Reconcile now and be at peace with Him;

thereby good will come to you.

22Receive instruction from His mouth,

and lay up His words in your heart.

23If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored.

If you remove injustice from your tents

24and consign your gold to the dust

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

25then the Almighty will be your gold

and the finest silver for you.

26Surely then you will delight in the Almighty

and lift up your face to God.

27You will pray to Him, and He will hear you,

and you will fulfill your vows.

28Your decisions will be carried out,

and light will shine on your ways.

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

then He will save the lowly.

30He will deliver even one who is not innocent,

rescuing him through the cleanness of your hands.”