[1] Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:
[2] “Can a person do anything to help God? Can even a wise person be helpful to him?
[3] Is it any advantage to the Almighty if you are righteous? Would it be any gain to him if you were perfect?
[4] Is it because you’re so pious that he accuses you and brings judgment against you?
[5] No, it’s because of your wickedness! There’s no limit to your sins.
[6] “For example, you must have lent money to your friend and demanded clothing as security. Yes, you stripped him to the bone.
[7] You must have refused water for the thirsty and food for the hungry.
[8] You probably think the land belongs to the powerful and only the privileged have a right to it!
[9] You must have sent widows away empty-handed and crushed the hopes of orphans.
[10] That is why you are surrounded by traps and tremble from sudden fears.
[11] That is why you cannot see in the darkness, and waves of water cover you.
[12] “God is so great—higher than the heavens, higher than the farthest stars.
[13] But you reply, ‘That’s why God can’t see what I am doing! How can he judge through the thick darkness?
[14] For thick clouds swirl about him, and he cannot see us. He is way up there, walking on the vault of heaven.’
[15] “Will you continue on the old paths where evil people have walked?
[16] They were snatched away in the prime of life, the foundations of their lives washed away.
[17] For they said to God, ‘Leave us alone! What can the Almighty do to us?’
[18] Yet he was the one who filled their homes with good things, so I will have nothing to do with that kind of thinking.
[19] “The righteous will be happy to see the wicked destroyed, and the innocent will laugh in contempt.
[20] They will say, ‘See how our enemies have been destroyed. The last of them have been consumed in the fire.’
[21] “Submit to God, and you will have peace; then things will go well for you.
[22] Listen to his instructions, and store them in your heart.
[23] If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored— so clean up your life.
[24] If you give up your lust for money and throw your precious gold into the river,
[25] the Almighty himself will be your treasure. He will be your precious silver!
[26] “Then you will take delight in the Almighty and look up to God.
[27] You will pray to him, and he will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows to him.
[28] You will succeed in whatever you choose to do, and light will shine on the road ahead of you.
[29] If people are in trouble and you say, ‘Help them,’ God will save them.
[30] Even sinners will be rescued; they will be rescued because your hands are pure.”