Eliphaz: Can a Man Be of Use to God?

1Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered, and sayde,

2May a man be profitable vnto God, as he that is wise, may be profitable to himselfe?

3Is it any thing vnto the Almightie, that thou art righteous? or is it profitable to him, that thou makest thy wayes vpright?

4Is it for feare of thee that he will accuse thee? or go with thee into iudgement?

5Is not thy wickednes great, and thine iniquities innumerable?

6For thou hast taken the pledge from thy brother for nought, and spoyled the clothes of the naked.

7To such as were wearie, thou hast not giuen water to drinke, and hast withdrawen bread from the hungrie.

8But the mightie man had the earth, and he that was in autoritie, dwelt in it.

9Thou hast cast out widowes emptie, & the armes of the fatherles were broken.

10Therefore snares are round about thee, and feare shal suddenly trouble thee:

11Or darkenes that thou shouldest not see, & abundance of waters shal couer thee.

12Is not God on hie in the heauen? and behold the height of the starres how hie they are.

13But thou sayest, How should God know? can he iudge through the darke cloude?

14The cloudes hide him that he can not see, and he walketh in the circle of heauen.

15Hast thou marked the way of the worlde, wherein wicked men haue walked?

16Which were cut downe before the time, whose foundation was as a riuer that ouerflowed:

17Which sayd vnto God, Depart from vs, & asked what the Almightie could do for them.

18Yet hee filled their houses with good things: but let the counsell of the wicked be farre from me.

19The righteous shal see them, & shal reioyce, and the innocent shal laugh them to scorne.

20Surely our substance is hid: but the fire hath deuoured the remnant of them.

21Therefore acquaint thy selfe, I pray thee, with him, and make peace: thereby thou shalt haue prosperitie.

22Receiue, I pray thee, the law of his mouth, and lay vp his words in thine heart.

23If thou returne to the Almightie, thou shalt be buylt vp, and thou shalt put iniquitie farre from thy tabernacle.

24Thou shalt lay vp golde for dust, and the gold of Ophir, as the flintes of the riuers.

25Yea, the Almightie shalbe thy defence, and thou shalt haue plentie of siluer.

26And thou shalt then delite in the Almightie, and lift vp thy face vnto God.

27Thou shalt make thy praier vnto him, & he shal heare thee, & thou shalt render thy vowes.

28Thou shalt also decree a thing, and he shal establish it vnto thee, and the light shall shine vpon thy wayes.

29When others are cast downe, then shalt thou say, I am lifted vp: and God shall saue the humble person.

30The innocent shal deliuer the yland, & it shalbe preserued by the purenes of thine hands.