1Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:
2“Can a person do anything to help God?Can even a wise person be helpful to him?
3Is it any advantage to the Almighty if you are righteous?Would it be any gain to him if you were perfect?
4Is it because you’re so pious that he accuses youand brings judgment against you?
5No, it’s because of your wickedness!There’s no limit to your sins.
6“For example, you must have lent money to your friendand demanded clothing as security.Yes, you stripped him to the bone.
7You must have refused water for the thirstyand food for the hungry.
8You probably think the land belongs to the powerfuland only the privileged have a right to it!
9You must have sent widows away empty-handedand crushed the hopes of orphans.
10That is why you are surrounded by trapsand tremble from sudden fears.
11That is why you cannot see in the darkness,and waves of water cover you.
12“God is so great — higher than the heavens,higher than the farthest stars.
13But you reply, ‘That’s why God can’t see what I am doing!How can he judge through the thick darkness?
14For thick clouds swirl about him, and he cannot see us.He is way up there, walking on the vault of heaven.’
15“Will you continue on the old pathswhere evil people have walked?
16They were snatched away in the prime of life,the foundations of their lives washed away.
17For they said to God, ‘Leave us alone!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.
19“The righteous will be happy to see the wicked destroyed,and the innocent will laugh in contempt.
20They will say, ‘See how our enemies have been destroyed.The last of them have been consumed in the fire.’
21“Submit to God, and you will have peace;then things will go well for you.
22Listen to his instructions,and store them in your heart.
23If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored —so clean up your life.
24If you give up your lust for moneyand throw your precious gold into the river,
25the Almighty himself will be your treasure.He will be your precious silver!
26“Then you will take delight in the Almightyand look up to God.
27You will pray to him, and he will hear you,and you will fulfill your vows to him.
28You will succeed in whatever you choose to do,and light will shine on the road ahead of you.
29If people are in trouble and you say, ‘Help them,’God will save them.
30Even sinners will be rescued;they will be rescued because your hands are pure.”