[1] Then Eliphaz from Teman answered:
[2] “Does God need our help? No! Even a very wise person isn’t really useful to God.
[3] Does your living right help God? No! Does God All-Powerful gain anything if you follow him? No!
[4] “Job, why does God punish and blame you? Is it because you worship him?
[5] No, it is because you have sinned much. Job, you never stop sinning!
[6] Maybe you loaned a brother some money and forced him to give you something to prove he would pay it back. Maybe you took some poor man’s clothes as collateral for a loan. Maybe you did that for no reason.
[7] Maybe you didn’t give water and food to tired, hungry people.
[8] Job, you have a lot of farm land. And people respect you.
[9] But maybe you sent widows away without giving them anything. Job, maybe you cheated orphans.
[10] That is why traps are all around you, and sudden trouble makes you afraid.
[11] That is why it is so dark you can’t see, and why a flood of water covers you.
[12] “God lives in the highest part of heaven. See how high the stars are. God looks down on the highest stars.
[13] But Job, you might say, 'What does God know? Can God see through the dark clouds and judge us?
[14] Thick clouds hide him from us, so he can’t see us as he walks beyond the edge of the sky.’
[15] “Job, you are walking on the old path that evil people walked on long ago.
[16] Those evil people were destroyed before it was their time to die. They were washed away by the flood.
[17] Those people told God, 'Leave us alone! God All-Powerful can’t do anything to us!’
[18] And it was God who filled their houses with good things! No, I can’t follow the advice of evil people.
[19] Good people will see them destroyed and those good people will be happy. Innocent people laugh at the evil people.
[20] 'Truly our enemies are destroyed! Fire burns up their wealth!’
[21] “Now, Job, give yourself to God and make peace with him. Do this, and you will get many good things.
[22] Accept his teaching. Pay attention to what he says.
[23] Job, come back to God All-Powerful, and you will be restored. But, you must remove the evil from your house.
[24] Think of your gold as nothing but dirt, Think of your best gold as pebbles from a stream.
[25] And let God All-Powerful be your gold. Let him be your pile of silver.
[26] Then you will enjoy God All-Powerful. Then you will look up to God.
[27] You will pray to him, and he will hear you. And you will be able to do the things you promised to do.
[28] If you decide to do something, it will be successful. And your future will be bright indeed!
[29] God makes proud people ashamed. But God helps humble people.
[30] Then you can help people who make mistakes. You will pray to God and he will forgive those people. Why? Because you will be so pure.”