The Complete Jewish Bible CJB
New Living Translation NLT
1 Next Elifaz the Teimani replied:
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Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:
2 "Can a human be of advantage to God? Can even the wisest benefit him?
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“Can a person do anything to help God? Can even a wise person be helpful to him?
3 Does Shaddai gain if you are righteous? Does he profit if you make your ways blameless?
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Is it any advantage to the Almighty if you are righteous? Would it be any gain to him if you were perfect?
4 "Is he rebuking you because you fear him? Is this why he enters into judgment with you?
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Is it because you’re so pious that he accuses you and brings judgment against you?
5 Isn't it because your wickedness is great? Aren't your iniquities endless?
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No, it’s because of your wickedness! There’s no limit to your sins.
6 "For you kept your kinsmen's goods as collateral for no reason, you stripped the poorly clothed of what clothing they have,
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“For example, you must have lent money to your friend and demanded clothing as security. Yes, you stripped him to the bone.
7 you didn't give water to the weary to drink, you withheld food from the hungry.
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You must have refused water for the thirsty and food for the hungry.
8 As a wealthy man, an owner of land, and as a man of rank, who lives on it,
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You probably think the land belongs to the powerful and only the privileged have a right to it!
9 you sent widows away empty-handed and left the arms of orphans crushed.
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You must have sent widows away empty-handed and crushed the hopes of orphans.
10 "No wonder there are snares all around you, and sudden terror overwhelms you,
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That is why you are surrounded by traps and tremble from sudden fears.
11 or darkness , so that you can't see, and a flood of water that covers you up!
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That is why you cannot see in the darkness, and waves of water cover you.
12 "Isn't God in the heights of heaven, looking [down even] on the highest stars?
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“God is so great—higher than the heavens, higher than the farthest stars.
13 Yet you say, 'What does God know? Can he see through thick darkness to judge?
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But you reply, ‘That’s why God can’t see what I am doing! How can he judge through the thick darkness?
14 The clouds veil him off, so that he can't see; he just wanders around in heaven.'
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For thick clouds swirl about him, and he cannot see us. He is way up there, walking on the vault of heaven.’
15 "Are you going to keep to the old way, the one the wicked have trodden,
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“Will you continue on the old paths where evil people have walked?
16 the ones snatched away before their time, whose foundations a flood swept away?
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They were snatched away in the prime of life, the foundations of their lives washed away.
17 They said to God, 'Leave us alone! What can Shaddai do to us?'
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For they said to God, ‘Leave us alone! What can the Almighty do to us?’
18 Yet he himself had filled their homes with good things! (But the advice of the wicked is far away from me.)
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Yet 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 saw this and rejoiced; the innocent laughed them to scorn -
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“The righteous will be happy to see the wicked destroyed, and the innocent will laugh in contempt.
20 'Indeed, our substance has not been not cut off, but the fire has consumed their wealth.'
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They will say, ‘See how our enemies have been destroyed. The last of them have been consumed in the fire.’
21 "Learn to be at peace with [God]; in this way good will come [back] to you.
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“Submit to God, and you will have peace; then things will go well for you.
22 Please! Receive instruction from his mouth, and take his words to heart.
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Listen to his instructions, and store them in your heart.
23 If you return to Shaddai, you will be built up. If you drive wickedness far from your tents,
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If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored— so clean up your life.
24 if you lay your treasure down in the dust and the gold of Ofir among the rocks in the vadis,
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If you give up your lust for money and throw your precious gold into the river,
25 and let Shaddai be your treasure and your sparkling silver;
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the Almighty himself will be your treasure. He will be your precious silver!
26 then Shaddai will be your delight, you will lift up your face to God;
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“Then you will take delight in the Almighty and look up to God.
27 you will entreat him, and he will hear you, and you will pay what you vowed;
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You will pray to him, and he will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows to him.
28 what you decide to do will succeed, and light will shine on your path;
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You will succeed in whatever you choose to do, and light will shine on the road ahead of you.
29 when someone is brought down, you will say, 'It was pride, because [God] saves the humble.'
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If people are in trouble and you say, ‘Help them,’ God will save them.
30 "He delivers even the unclean; so if your hands are clean, you will be delivered."
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Even sinners will be rescued; they will be rescued because your hands are pure.”
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by
Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.