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Eliphaz Speaks: Job’s Wickedness Is Great

22Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:
² ‘Can a mortal be of use to God?
   Can even the wisest be of service to him?
³ Is it any pleasure to the Almighty^* if you are righteous,
   or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless?
⁴ Is it for your piety that he reproves you,
   and enters into judgement with you?
⁵ Is not your wickedness great?
   There is no end to your iniquities.
⁶ For you have exacted pledges from your family for no reason,
   and stripped the naked of their clothing.
⁷ You have given no water to the weary to drink,
   and you have withheld bread from the hungry.
⁸ The powerful possess the land,
   and the favoured live in it.
⁹ You have sent widows away empty-handed,
   and the arms of the orphans you have crushed.^*
10 Therefore snares are around you,
   and sudden terror overwhelms you,
¹¹ or darkness so that you cannot see;
   a flood of water covers you.

¹² ‘Is not God high in the heavens?
   See the highest stars, how lofty they are!
¹³ Therefore you say, “What does God know?
   Can he judge through the deep darkness?
¹⁴ Thick clouds enwrap him, so that he does not see,
   and he walks on the dome of heaven.”
¹⁵ Will you keep to the old way
   that the wicked have trod?
¹⁶ They were snatched away before their time;
   their foundation was washed away by a flood.
¹⁷ They said to God, “Leave us alone”,
   and “What can the Almighty^* do to us?”^*
18 Yet he filled their houses with good things—
   but the plans of the wicked are repugnant to me.
¹⁹ The righteous see it and are glad;
   the innocent laugh them to scorn,
²⁰ saying, “Surely our adversaries are cut off,
   and what they left, the fire has consumed.”

²¹ ‘Agree with God,^* and be at peace;
   in this way good will come to you.
²² Receive instruction from his mouth,
   and lay up his words in your heart.
²³ If you return to the Almighty,^* you will be restored,
   if you remove unrighteousness from your tents,
²⁴ if you treat gold like dust,
   and gold of Ophir like the stones of the torrent-bed,
²⁵ and if the Almighty^* is your gold
   and your precious silver,
²⁶ then you will delight in the Almighty,^*
   and lift up your face to God.
²⁷ You will pray to him, and he will hear you,
   and you will pay your vows.
²⁸ You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you,
   and light will shine on your ways.
²⁹ When others are humiliated, you say it is pride;
   for he saves the humble.
³⁰ He will deliver even those who are guilty;
   they will escape because of the cleanness of your hands.’^*

Job Replies: My Complaint Is Bitter

23Then Job answered:
² ‘Today also my complaint is bitter;^*
   his^* hand is heavy despite my groaning.
³ O that I knew where I might find him,
   that I might come even to his dwelling!
⁴ I would lay my case before him,
   and fill my mouth with arguments.
⁵ I would learn what he would answer me,
   and understand what he would say to me.
⁶ Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power?
   No; but he would give heed to me.
⁷ There an upright person could reason with him,
   and I should be acquitted for ever by my judge.

⁸ ‘If I go forward, he is not there;
   or backward, I cannot perceive him;
⁹ on the left he hides, and I cannot behold him;
   I turn^* to the right, but I cannot see him.
¹⁰ But he knows the way that I take;
   when he has tested me, I shall come out like gold.
¹¹ My foot has held fast to his steps;
   I have kept his way and have not turned aside.
¹² I have not departed from the commandment of his lips;
   I have treasured in^* my bosom the words of his mouth.
¹³ But he stands alone and who can dissuade him?
   What he desires, that he does.
¹⁴ For he will complete what he appoints for me;
   and many such things are in his mind.
¹⁵ Therefore I am terrified at his presence;
   when I consider, I am in dread of him.
¹⁶ God has made my heart faint;
   the Almighty^* has terrified me;
¹⁷ If only I could vanish in darkness,
   and thick darkness would cover my face!^*