Eliphaz: Can a Man Be of Use to God?

Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:

“Can a man be of use to God?

Can even a wise man benefit Him?

Does it delight the Almighty that you are righteous?

Does He profit if your ways are blameless?

Is it for your reverence that He rebukes you

and enters into judgment against you?

Is not your wickedness great?

Are not your iniquities endless?

For you needlessly demanded security from your brothers

and deprived the naked of their clothing.

You gave no water to the weary

and withheld food from the famished,

while the land belonged to a mighty man,

and a man of honor lived on it.

You sent widows away empty-handed,

and the strength of the fatherless was crushed.

Therefore snares surround you,

and sudden peril terrifies you;

it is so dark you cannot see,

and a flood of water covers you.

Is not God as high as the heavens?

Look at the highest stars, how lofty they are!

Yet you say: ‘What does God know?

Does He judge through thick darkness?

Thick clouds veil Him so He does not see us

as He traverses the vault of heaven.’

Will you stay on the ancient path

that wicked men have trod?

They were snatched away before their time,

and their foundations were swept away by a flood.

They said to God, ‘Depart from us.

What can the Almighty do to us?’

But it was He who filled their houses with good things;

so I stay far from the counsel of the wicked.

The righteous see it and are glad;

the innocent mock them:

‘Surely our foes are destroyed,

and fire has consumed their excess.’

Reconcile now and be at peace with Him;

thereby good will come to you.

Receive instruction from His mouth,

and lay up His words in your heart.

If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored.

If you remove injustice from your tents

and consign your gold to the dust

and the gold of Ophir to the stones of the ravines,

then the Almighty will be your gold

and the finest silver for you.

Surely then you will delight in the Almighty

and lift up your face to God.

You will pray to Him, and He will hear you,

and you will fulfill your vows.

Your decisions will be carried out,

and light will shine on your ways.

When men are brought low and you say, ‘Lift them up!’

then He will save the lowly.

He will deliver even one who is not innocent,

rescuing him through the cleanness of your hands.”