| New Living Translation | Berean Study Bible |
| 1Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied: | 1Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied: |
| 2“Can a person do anything to help God? Can even a wise person be helpful to him? | 2“Can a man be of use to God? Can even a wise man benefit Him? |
| 3Is it any advantage to the Almighty if you are righteous? Would it be any gain to him if you were perfect? | 3Does it delight the Almighty that you are righteous? Does He profit if your ways are blameless? |
| 4Is it because you’re so pious that he accuses you and brings judgment against you? | 4Is it for your reverence that He rebukes you and enters into judgment against you? |
| 5No, it’s because of your wickedness! There’s no limit to your sins. | 5Is not your wickedness great? Are not your iniquities endless? |
| 6“For example, you must have lent money to your friend and demanded clothing as security. Yes, you stripped him to the bone. | 6For you needlessly demanded security from your brothers and deprived the naked of their clothing. |
| 7You must have refused water for the thirsty and food for the hungry. | 7You gave no water to the weary and withheld food from the famished, |
| 8You probably think the land belongs to the powerful and only the privileged have a right to it! | 8while the land belonged to a mighty man, and a man of honor lived on it. |
| 9You must have sent widows away empty-handed and crushed the hopes of orphans. | 9You sent widows away empty-handed, and the strength of the fatherless was crushed. |
| 10That is why you are surrounded by traps and tremble from sudden fears. | 10Therefore snares surround you, and sudden peril terrifies you; |
| 11That is why you cannot see in the darkness, and waves of water cover you. | 11it is so dark you cannot see, and a flood of water covers you. |
| 12“God is so great—higher than the heavens, higher than the farthest stars. | 12Is not God as high as the heavens? Look at the highest stars, how lofty they are! |
| 13But you reply, ‘That’s why God can’t see what I am doing! How can he judge through the thick darkness? | 13Yet you say: ‘What does God know? Does He judge through thick darkness? |
| 14For thick clouds swirl about him, and he cannot see us. He is way up there, walking on the vault of heaven.’ | 14Thick clouds veil Him so He does not see us as He traverses the vault of heaven.’ |
| 15“Will you continue on the old paths where evil people have walked? | 15Will you stay on the ancient path that wicked men have trod? |
| 16They were snatched away in the prime of life, the foundations of their lives washed away. | 16They were snatched away before their time, and their foundations were swept away by a flood. |
| 17For they said to God, ‘Leave us alone! What can the Almighty do to us?’ | 17They said to God, ‘Depart from us. What can the Almighty do to us?’ |
| 18Yet he was the one who filled their homes with good things, so I will have nothing to do with that kind of thinking. | 18But it was He who filled their houses with good things; so I stay far from the counsel of the wicked. |
| 19“The righteous will be happy to see the wicked destroyed, and the innocent will laugh in contempt. | 19The righteous see it and are glad; the innocent mock them: |
| 20They will say, ‘See how our enemies have been destroyed. The last of them have been consumed in the fire.’ | 20‘Surely our foes are destroyed, and fire has consumed their excess.’ |
| 21“Submit to God, and you will have peace; then things will go well for you. | 21Reconcile now and be at peace with Him; thereby good will come to you. |
| 22Listen to his instructions, and store them in your heart. | 22Receive instruction from His mouth, and lay up His words in your heart. |
| 23If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored— so clean up your life. | 23If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored. If you remove injustice from your tents |
| 24If you give up your lust for money and throw your precious gold into the river, | 24and consign your gold to the dust and the gold of Ophir to the stones of the ravines, |
| 25the Almighty himself will be your treasure. He will be your precious silver! | 25then the Almighty will be your gold and the finest silver for you. |
| 26“Then you will take delight in the Almighty and look up to God. | 26Surely then you will delight in the Almighty and lift up your face to God. |
| 27You will pray to him, and he will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows to him. | 27You will pray to Him, and He will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows. |
| 28You will succeed in whatever you choose to do, and light will shine on the road ahead of you. | 28Your decisions will be carried out, and light will shine on your ways. |
| 29If people are in trouble and you say, ‘Help them,’ God will save them. | 29When men are brought low and you say, ‘Lift them up!’ then He will save the lowly. |
| 30Even sinners will be rescued; they will be rescued because your hands are pure.” | 30He will deliver even one who is not innocent, rescuing him through the cleanness of your hands.” |
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