[1] Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered,
[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, that you are righteous? Or does it benefit him, that you make your ways perfect?
[4] Is it for your piety that he reproves you, that he enters with you into judgment?
[5] Isn’t your wickedness great? Neither is there any end to your iniquities.
[6] For you have taken pledges from your brother for nothing, and stripped the naked of their clothing.
[7] You haven’t given water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry.
[8] But as for the mighty man, he had the earth. The honorable man, he lived in it.
[9] You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.
[10] Therefore snares are around you. Sudden fear troubles you,
[11] or darkness, so that you can not see, and floods of waters cover you.
[12] “Isn’t God in the heights of heaven? See the height of the stars, how high they are!
[13] You say, ‘What does God know? Can he judge through the thick darkness?
[14] Thick clouds are a covering to him, so that he doesn’t see. He walks on the vault of the sky.’
[15] Will you keep the old way, which wicked men have trodden,
[16] who were snatched away before their time, whose foundation was poured out as a stream,
[17] who said to God, ‘Depart from us;’ and, ‘What can the Almighty do for us?’
[18] Yet he filled their houses with good things, but the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
[19] The righteous see it, and are glad. The innocent ridicule them,
[20] saying, ‘Surely those who rose up against us are cut off. The fire has consumed their remnant.’
[21] “Acquaint yourself with him, now, and be at peace. Thereby good shall come to you.
[22] Please receive instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in your heart.
[23] If you return to the Almighty, you shall be built up, if you put away unrighteousness far from your tents.
[24] Lay your treasure in the dust, the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks.
[25] The Almighty will be your treasure, and precious silver to you.
[26] For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty, and shall lift up your face to God.
[27] You shall make your prayer to him, and he will hear you. You shall pay your vows.
[28] You shall also decree a thing, and it shall be established to you. Light shall shine on your ways.
[29] When they cast down, you shall say, ‘be lifted up.’ He will save the humble person.
[30] He will even deliver him who is not innocent. Yes, he shall be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.”