1Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said: (Job 2:11)2“Can a man be profitable to God? Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself. (Job 35:7)3Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are in the right, or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless? (Ps 18:32)4Is it for your fear of him that he reproves you and enters into judgment with you? (Job 14:3; Ps 143:2)5Is not your evil abundant? There is no end to your iniquities.6For you have exacted pledges of your brothers for nothing and stripped the naked of their clothing. (Ex 22:26; De 24:6; De 24:17; Job 24:3; Job 24:9; Job 31:16; Eze 18:12; Eze 18:16)7You have given no water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry. (Job 31:17; Isa 58:7; Eze 18:7; Eze 18:16; Mt 25:42)8The man with power possessed the land, and the favored man lived in it. (2Ki 5:1; Job 35:9; Isa 9:15)9You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless were crushed. (Job 31:21; Job 38:15; Isa 10:2; Eze 22:7; Lu 1:53)10Therefore snares are all around you, and sudden terror overwhelms you, (Job 18:8)11or darkness, so that you cannot see, and a flood of water covers you. (Ex 10:22; Job 27:20; Job 38:34; Ps 69:1; Ps 69:14; Ps 124:5; La 3:54; Jon 2:3; Jon 2:5)12“Is not God high in the heavens? See the highest stars, how lofty they are! (Job 11:8)13But you say, ‘What does God know? Can he judge through the deep darkness? (Job 38:9; Ps 10:11; Ps 59:7; Ps 64:5; Ps 73:11; Ps 94:7; Isa 29:15; Eze 8:12; Eze 9:9)14Thick clouds veil him, so that he does not see, and he walks on the vault of heaven.’ (Ps 139:11; Pr 8:27; Isa 40:22)15Will you keep to the old way that wicked men have trod?16They were snatched away before their time; their foundation was washed away.[1] (Job 15:32)17They said to God, ‘Depart from us,’ and ‘What can the Almighty do to us?’[2] (Job 21:14; Ps 4:6)18Yet he filled their houses with good things— but the counsel of the wicked is far from me. (Job 21:16)19The righteous see it and are glad; the innocent one mocks at them, (Ps 2:4; Ps 52:6; Ps 58:10; Ps 64:10; Ps 107:42)20saying, ‘Surely our adversaries are cut off, and what they left the fire has consumed.’ (Job 1:16)21“Agree with God, and be at peace; thereby good will come to you. (Ps 119:45; Pr 3:2)22Receive instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in your heart. (Ps 119:11; Pr 2:6; Mal 2:7)23If you return to the Almighty you will be built up; if you remove injustice far from your tents, (Job 8:5; Job 11:13; Job 11:14; Jer 24:6; Jer 33:7; Mal 3:7)24if you lay gold in the dust, and gold of Ophir among the stones of the torrent-bed, (1Ki 9:28; Job 20:11; Job 21:26)25then the Almighty will be your gold and your precious silver.26For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty and lift up your face to God. (Job 11:15; Job 27:10; Ps 37:4; Isa 58:14)27You will make your prayer to him, and he will hear you, and you will pay your vows. (Job 33:26; Ps 50:14; Isa 58:9)28You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you, and light will shine on your ways. (Pr 4:18)29For when they are humbled you say, ‘It is because of pride’;[3] but he saves the lowly. (Ps 138:6; Pr 3:34; Pr 29:23; Mt 23:12; Lu 1:52; Jas 4:6; 1Pe 5:5)30He delivers even the one who is not innocent, who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.” (Ge 18:26; Job 9:30; Job 17:9; Ps 18:20; Ps 18:24; Ps 24:4; Ps 26:6)