New Living Translation

King James Bible

1Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:

1Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,

2“Can a person do anything to help God? Can even a wise person be helpful to him?

2Can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself?

3Is it any advantage to the Almighty if you are righteous? Would it be any gain to him if you were perfect?

3Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that thou art righteous? or is it gain to him, that thou makest thy ways perfect?

4Is it because you’re so pious that he accuses you and brings judgment against you?

4Will he reprove thee for fear of thee? will he enter with thee into judgment?

5No, it’s because of your wickedness! There’s no limit to your sins.

5Is not thy wickedness great? and thine iniquities infinite?

6“For example, you must have lent money to your friend and demanded clothing as security. Yes, you stripped him to the bone.

6For thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought, and stripped the naked of their clothing.

7You must have refused water for the thirsty and food for the hungry.

7Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink, and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry.

8You probably think the land belongs to the powerful and only the privileged have a right to it!

8But as for the mighty man, he had the earth; and the honourable man dwelt in it.

9You must have sent widows away empty-handed and crushed the hopes of orphans.

9Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.

10That is why you are surrounded by traps and tremble from sudden fears.

10Therefore snares are round about thee, and sudden fear troubleth thee;

11That is why you cannot see in the darkness, and waves of water cover you.

11Or darkness, that thou canst not see; and abundance of waters cover thee.

12“God is so great—higher than the heavens, higher than the farthest stars.

12Is not God in the height of heaven? and behold the height of the stars, how high they are!

13But you reply, ‘That’s why God can’t see what I am doing! How can he judge through the thick darkness?

13And thou sayest, How doth God know? can he judge through the dark cloud?

14For thick clouds swirl about him, and he cannot see us. He is way up there, walking on the vault of heaven.’

14Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not; and he walketh in the circuit of heaven.

15“Will you continue on the old paths where evil people have walked?

15Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden?

16They were snatched away in the prime of life, the foundations of their lives washed away.

16Which were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood:

17For they said to God, ‘Leave us alone! What can the Almighty do to us?’

17Which said unto God, Depart from us: and what can the Almighty do for them?

18Yet he was the one who filled their homes with good things, so I will have nothing to do with that kind of thinking.

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

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: and the innocent laugh them to scorn.

20They will say, ‘See how our enemies have been destroyed. The last of them have been consumed in the fire.’

20Whereas our substance is not cut down, but the remnant of them the fire consumeth.

21“Submit to God, and you will have peace; then things will go well for you.

21Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.

22Listen to his instructions, and store them in your heart.

22Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart.

23If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored— so clean up your life.

23If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles.

24If you give up your lust for money and throw your precious gold into the river,

24Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust, and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks.

25the Almighty himself will be your treasure. He will be your precious silver!

25Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defence, and thou shalt have plenty of silver.

26“Then you will take delight in the Almighty and look up to God.

26For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face unto God.

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

27Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he shall hear thee, and thou shalt pay thy vows.

28You will succeed in whatever you choose to do, and light will shine on the road ahead of you.

28Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways.

29If people are in trouble and you say, ‘Help them,’ God will save them.

29When men are cast down, then thou shalt say, There is lifting up; and he shall save the humble person.

30Even sinners will be rescued; they will be rescued because your hands are pure.”

30He shall deliver the island of the innocent: and it is delivered by the pureness of thine hands.

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

King James Bible, text courtesy of BibleProtector.com.