Eliphaz Speaks: Job's Wickedness Is Great
1 Then
1Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:
2
2"Can a man be profitable to God? Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself.
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Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are in the right, or is it gain to him if you
3make your ways blameless?
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Is it for your fear of him that he reproves you and
4enters into judgment with you?
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Is not your evil abundant? There is no end to your iniquities.
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For you have
5exacted pledges of your brothers for nothing
6and stripped the naked of their clothing.
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You have given no water to the weary to drink, and you have
7withheld bread from the hungry.
8
8The man with power possessed the land, and
9the favored man lived in it.
9
You have
10sent widows away empty, and
11the arms of
12the fatherless were crushed.
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Therefore
13snares are all around you, and sudden terror overwhelms you,
11
or
14darkness, so that you cannot see, and a
15flood of
16water covers you.
12
"Is not God high in the heavens? See
17the highest stars, how lofty they are!
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But you say,
18'What does God know? Can he judge through
19the deep darkness?
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20Thick clouds veil him, so that he does not see, and he walks on the vault of heaven.'
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Will you keep to the old way that wicked men have trod?
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They were snatched away
21before their time; their foundation was washed away.
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They said to God,
22'Depart from us,' and
23'What can the Almighty do to us?'
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Yet he filled their houses with good things-- but
24the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
19
25The righteous see it and are glad; the innocent one
26mocks at them,
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saying, 'Surely our adversaries are cut off, and what they left
27the fire has consumed.'
21
28"Agree with God, and
29be at peace; thereby good will come to you.
22
Receive instruction from
30his mouth, and
31lay up his words in your heart.
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If you
32return to the Almighty you will be
33built up; if you
34remove injustice far from your tents,
24
if you lay gold in
35the dust, and gold of
36Ophir among the stones of the torrent-bed,
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then the Almighty will be your gold and your precious silver.
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For then you
37will delight yourself in the Almighty and
38lift up your face to God.
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You will
39make your prayer to him, and he will hear you, and you will
40pay your vows.
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You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you, and
41light will shine on your ways.
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For when they are humbled you say, 'It is because of pride'; but he saves
42the lowly.
30
He
43delivers even the one who is not innocent, who will be delivered through
44the cleanness of your hands."