New International Version NIV
Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible RHE
1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:
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Then Eliphaz the Themanite answered, and said:
2 “Can a man be of benefit to God? Can even a wise person benefit him?
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Can man be compared with God, even though he were of perfect knowledge?
3 What pleasure would it give the Almighty if you were righteous? What would he gain if your ways were blameless?
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What doth it profit God if thou be just? or what dost thou give him if thy way be unspotted?
4 “Is it for your piety that he rebukes you and brings charges against you?
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Shall he reprove thee for fear, and come with thee into judgment:
5 Is not your wickedness great? Are not your sins endless?
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And not for thy manifold wickedness and thy infinite iniquities?
6 You demanded security from your relatives for no reason; you stripped people of their clothing, leaving them naked.
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For thou hast taken away the pledge of thy brethren without cause, and stripped the naked of their clothing.
7 You gave no water to the weary and you withheld food from the hungry,
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Thou hast not given water to the weary, thou hast withdrawn bread from the hungry.
8 though you were a powerful man, owning land— an honored man, living on it.
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In the strength of thy arm thou didst possess the land, and being the most mighty thou holdest it.
9 And you sent widows away empty-handed and broke the strength of the fatherless.
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Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless thou hast broken in pieces.
10 That is why snares are all around you, why sudden peril terrifies you,
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Therefore art thou surrounded with shares, and sudden fear troubleth thee.
11 why it is so dark you cannot see, and why a flood of water covers you.
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And didst thou think that thou shouldst not see darkness, and that thou shouldst not be covered with the violence of overflowing waters?
12 “Is not God in the heights of heaven? And see how lofty are the highest stars!
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Dost not thou think that God is higher than heaven, and is elevated above the height of the stars?
13 Yet you say, ‘What does God know? Does he judge through such darkness?
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And thou sayst: What doth God know? and he judgeth as it were through a mist.
14 Thick clouds veil him, so he does not see us as he goes about in the vaulted heavens.’
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The clouds are his covert, and he doth not consider our things, and he walketh about the poles of heaven.
15 Will you keep to the old path that the wicked have trod?
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Dost thou desire to keep the path of ages, which wicked men have trodden?
16 They were carried off before their time, their foundations washed away by a flood.
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Who were taken away before their time, and a flood hath overthrown their foundation.
17 They said to God, ‘Leave us alone! What can the Almighty do to us?’
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Who said to God: Depart from us: and looked upon the Almighty as if he could do nothing:
18 Yet it was he who filled their houses with good things, so I stand aloof from the plans of the wicked.
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Whereas he had filled their houses with good things: whose way of thinking be far from me.
19 The righteous see their ruin and rejoice; the innocent mock them, saying,
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The just shall see, and shall rejoice, and the innocent shall laugh them to scorn.
20 ‘Surely our foes are destroyed, and fire devours their wealth.’
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Is not their exaltation cut down, and hath not fire devoured the remnants of them?
21 “Submit to God and be at peace with him; in this way prosperity will come to you.
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Submit thyself then to him, and be at peace: and thereby thou shalt have the best fruits.
22 Accept instruction from his mouth and lay up his words in your heart.
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Receive the law of his mouth, and lay up his words in thy heart.
23 If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored: If you remove wickedness far from your tent
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If thou wilt return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, and shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacle.
24 and assign your nuggets to the dust, your gold of Ophir to the rocks in the ravines,
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He shall give for earth flint, and for flint torrents of gold.
25 then the Almighty will be your gold, the choicest silver for you.
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And the Almighty shall be against thy enemies, and silver shall be heaped together for thee.
26 Surely then you will find delight in the Almighty and will lift up your face to God.
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Then shalt thou abound in delights in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face to God.
27 You will pray to him, and he will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows.
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Thou shalt pray to him, and he will hear thee, and thou shalt pay vows.
28 What you decide on will be done, and light will shine on your ways.
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Thou shalt decree a thing, and it shall come to thee, and light shall shine in thy ways.
29 When people are brought low and you say, ‘Lift them up!’ then he will save the downcast.
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For he that hath been humbled, shall be in glory: and he that shall bow down his eyes, he shall be saved.
30 He will deliver even one who is not innocent, who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.”
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The innocent shall be saved, and he shall be saved by the cleanness of his hands.
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.
The Douay-Rheims Bible is in the public domain.