¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:

²Can a man be of use to God? Rather, the wise man is of use to himself.

³Is it a delight to the Almighty that you are righteous, or is it a profit that you make blameless your ways?

⁴Is it out of your fear that he reproves you, that he goes with you into justice?

⁵Is your evil not great? And there is no end to your guilt.

⁶For you take in pledge your brothers for nothing, and you strip off the garments of the naked.

⁷You have given the weary no water to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry.

⁸And the man of the arm, the land is his, and the one of lifted face dwells in it.

⁹Widows you sent away empty-handed, and the arms of the fatherless are crushed.

¹⁰Therefore traps are all around you, and dread suddenly terrifies you.

¹¹or darkness, so that you do not see, and an abundance of waters covers you.

¹²Is not God high in the skies? See the head of the stars, how high they are.

¹³And you said, "What does God know? Does he judge from behind the thick dark cloud?

¹⁴Clouds are a hiding place for him, and he does not see; he walks about the vault of the skies."

¹⁵Will you keep the path of forever that men of iniquity have trodden?

¹⁶who were snatched away before their time, their foundation poured out as a river.

¹⁷those who say to God, "Depart from us, and what can the Almighty do to them?"

¹⁸Yet he filled their houses with good things; but the counsel of the wicked is far from me.

¹⁹The righteous see it and rejoice, and the innocent mock them.

²⁰Surely our adversary has been effaced, and fire has eaten their remainder.

²¹Be familiar with him, please, and be whole; by them good will come to you.

²²Take instruction, please, from his mouth, and set his words in your heart.

²³If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up, putting injustice far from your tent.

²⁴Set precious ore on the dust, and the gold of Ophir among the rocks of the wadis.

²⁵Then the Almighty will be your precious ores, and towering silver for you.

²⁶For then you will delight in the Almighty, and you will lift up your face to God.

²⁷You will pray to him, and he will hear you, and you will pay your vows.

²⁸You will decree a word, and it will stand for you, and on your ways, light will shine.

²⁹When they bring people low, you say, "Lift up!" and the downcast of eyes he will save.

³⁰He will deliver the one who is not innocent, and he will be delivered by the cleanness of your palms.