Eliphaz’s Third Speech

22 Then[fn] Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,

• 2 “Can a man be of use to God? Yes, can the wise be of use to him?
• 3 Is it a pleasure to Shaddai if you are righteous, or[fn] a gain if you make your ways blameless?
• 4 Does he reprove you because of your reverence or enter into judgment with you?
• 5 Is not your wickedness great, and there is no end to your iniquities?
• 6 “Indeed, you have required a pledge from your family for nothing, and you have stripped off the clothes of the naked.
• 7 You have given no water for the weary to drink, and you withheld food from the hungry.
• 8 And the land belongs to the man of power ,[fn] and the favored[fn] lives in it.
• 9 You have sent widows away empty-handed, and the arms of orphans were crushed.
• 10 Therefore trapping nets are all around you, and panic suddenly terrifies you,
• 11 or it is so dark you cannot see, and a flood of water covers you.
• 12 “ Is not God in the height of the heavens? But[fn] see how lofty are the highest stars .[fn]
• 13 And you ask, ‘What does God know? Can he judge through deep gloom?
• 14 Thick clouds are a covering for him, so that he does not see; and he walks about on the dome of heaven.’
• 15 Will you keep to the way of old that the people of mischief have trod,
• 16 who were snatched away before their time ,[fn] whose foundation was washed away by a current?
• 17 Those who said to God, ‘Turn away from us,’ and ‘What can Shaddai do to us?’
• 18 Yet[fn] he himself[fn] filled up their houses with good things, but[fn] the schemes of the wicked are repugnant to me.
• 19 The righteous see, and they rejoice, but[fn] the innocent one mocks at them.
• 20 Surely[fn] our foe perishes, and fire has consumed their remainder.[fn]
• 21 “Please reconcile yourself with him, and be at peace; in this way ,[fn] good will come to you.
• 22 Please receive instruction from his mouth, and place his words in your heart.
• 23 If you return to Shaddai, you will be restored; if you remove wickedness from your tent,
• 24 and if you put gold ore in the dust, and the gold of Ophir in the rock of wadis,
• 25 then[fn] Shaddai will be your gold ore and your precious silver .[fn]
• 26 Indeed, then you will delight yourself in Shaddai, and you will expect that God will be good to you .[fn]
• 27 You will pray to him, and he will hear you, and you will pay your vows.
• 28 And you will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you, and light will shine on your ways.
• 29 When they are humiliated, you say ,[fn] ‘ It is pride,’ for[fn] he saves the humble .[fn]
• 30 He will deliver the guilty, and he will escape because of the cleanness of your hands.”