The Third Dialogue
(22.1—27.23)Eliphaz
1-2 Is there anyone, even the wisest,
who could ever be of use to God?
3 Does your doing right benefit God,
or does your being good help him at all?
4 It is not because you stand in awe of God
that he reprimands you and brings you to trial.
5 No, it's because you have sinned so much;
it's because of all the evil you do.
6 To make a brother repay you the money he owed,
you took away his clothes and left him nothing to wear.
7 You refused water to those who were tired,
and refused to feed those who were hungry.
8 You used your power and your position
to take over the whole land.
9 You not only refused to help widows,
but you also robbed and mistreated orphans.
10 So now there are pitfalls all around you,
and suddenly you are full of fear.
11 It has grown so dark that you cannot see,
and a flood overwhelms you.
12 Doesn't God live in the highest heavens
and look down on the stars, even though they are high?
13 And yet you ask, “What does God know?
He is hidden by clouds—how can he judge us?”
14 You think the thick clouds keep him from seeing,
as he walks on the dome of the sky.
15 Are you determined to walk in the paths
that evil people have always followed?
16 Even before their time had come,
they were washed away by a flood.
17 These are the ones who rejected God
and believed that he could do nothing to them.
18 And yet it was God who made them prosperous—
I can't understand the thoughts of the wicked.
19 Good people are glad and the innocent laugh
when they see the wicked punished.
20 All that the wicked own is destroyed,
and fire burns up anything that is left.
21 Now, Job, make peace with God
and stop treating him like an enemy;
if you do, then he will bless you.
22 Accept the teaching he gives;
keep his words in your heart.
23 Yes, you must humbly return to God
and put an end to all the evil
that is done in your house.
24 Throw away your gold;
dump your finest gold in the dry stream bed.
25 Let Almighty God be your gold,
and let him be silver, piled high for you.
26 Then you will always trust in God
and find that he is the source of your joy.
27 When you pray, he will answer you,
and you will keep the vows you made.
28 You will succeed in all you do,
and light will shine on your path.
29 God brings down the proud
and saves the humble.
30 He will rescue you if you are innocent,
if what you do is right.
1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said, 2 Can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself? 3 Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that thou art righteous? or is it gain to him , that thou makest thy ways perfect? 4 Will he reprove thee for fear of thee? will he enter with thee into judgment?
5 Is not thy wickedness great? and thine iniquities infinite? 6 For thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought, and stripped the naked of their clothing. 7 Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink, and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry. 8 But as for the mighty man, he had the earth; and the honourable man dwelt in it. 9 Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken. 10 Therefore snares are round about thee, and sudden fear troubleth thee; 11 Or darkness, that thou canst not see; and abundance of waters cover thee. 12 Is not God in the height of heaven? and behold the height of the stars, how high they are! 13 And thou sayest, How doth God know? can he judge through the dark cloud? 14 Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not; and he walketh in the circuit of heaven.
15 Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden? 16 Which were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood: 17 Which said unto God, Depart from us: and what can the Almighty do for them? 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: and the innocent laugh them to scorn. 20 Whereas our substance is not cut down, but the remnant of them the fire consumeth.
21 Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee. 22 Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart. 23 If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles. 24 Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust, and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks. 25 Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defence, and thou shalt have plenty of silver. 26 For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face unto God. 27 Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he shall hear thee, and thou shalt pay thy vows. 28 Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways. 29 When men are cast down, then thou shalt say, There is lifting up; and he shall save the humble person. 30 He shall deliver the island of the innocent: and it is delivered by the pureness of thine hands.