Futile Words, Deceptive Answers

27 “Yes, I know what you are thinking,

the schemes by which you would wrong me.

28 For you say,

‘Where now is the nobleman’s house,

and where are the tents in which the wicked lived?’

29 Have you never questioned those who travel the roads?

Do you not recognize their accounts –

30 that the evil man is spared

from the day of his misfortune,

that he is delivered

from the day of God’s wrath?

31 No one denounces his conduct to his face;

no one repays him for what he has done.

32 And when he is carried to the tombs,

and watch is kept over the funeral mound,

33 The clods of the torrent valley are sweet to him;

behind him everybody follows in procession,

and before him goes a countless throng.

34 So how can you console me with your futile words?

Nothing is left of your answers but deception!”

22 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:

2 “Is it to God that a strong man is of benefit?

Is it to him that even a wise man is profitable?

3 Is it of any special benefit to the Almighty

that you should be righteous,

or is it any gain to him

that you make your ways blameless?

4 Is it because of your piety that he rebukes you

and goes to judgment with you?

5 Is not your wickedness great

and is there no end to your iniquity?

6 “For you took pledges from your brothers

for no reason,

and you stripped the clothing from the naked.

7 You gave the weary no water to drink

and from the hungry you withheld food.

8 Although you were a powerful man, owning land,

an honored man living on it,

9 you sent widows away empty-handed,

and the arms of the orphans you crushed.

10 That is why snares surround you,

and why sudden fear terrifies you,

11 why it is so dark you cannot see,

and why a flood of water covers you.

12 “Is not God on high in heaven?

And see the lofty stars, how high they are!

13 But you have said, ‘What does God know?

Does he judge through such deep darkness?

14 Thick clouds are a veil for him, so he does not see us,

as he goes back and forth

in the vault of heaven.’

15 Will you keep to the old path

that evil men have walked –

16 men who were carried off before their time,

when the flood was poured out

on their foundations?

17 They were saying to God, ‘Turn away from us,’

and ‘What can the Almighty do to us?’

18 But it was he who filled their houses

with good things –

yet the counsel of the wicked

was far from me.

19 The righteous see their destruction and rejoice;

the innocent mock them scornfully, saying,

20 ‘Surely our enemies are destroyed,

and fire consumes their wealth.’

21 “Reconcile yourself with God,

and be at peace with him;

in this way your prosperity will be good.

22 Accept instruction from his mouth

and store up his words in your heart.

23 If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up;

if you remove wicked behavior far from your tent,

24 and throw your gold in the dust –

your gold of Ophir

among the rocks in the ravines –

25 then the Almighty himself will be your gold,

and the choicest silver for you.

26 Surely then you will delight yourself in the Almighty,

and will lift up your face toward God.

27 You will pray to him and he will hear you,

and you will fulfill your vows to him.

28 Whatever you decide on a matter,

it will be established for you,

and light will shine on your ways.

29 When people are brought low and you say

‘Lift them up!’

then he will save the downcast;

30 he will deliver even someone who is not innocent,

who will escape through the cleanness of your hands.”

23 Then Job answered:

2 “Even today my complaint is still bitter;

his hand is heavy despite my groaning.

3 O that I knew where I might find him,

that I could come to his place of residence!

4 I would lay out my case before him

and fill my mouth with arguments.

5 I would know with what words he would answer me,

and understand what he would say to me.

6 Would he contend with me with great power?

No, he would only pay attention to me.

7 There an upright person

could present his case before him,

and I would be delivered forever from my judge.