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22Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered: ²“Can a mortal be of use to God? Can even the wisest be of service to him? ³Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are righteous, or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless? ⁴Is it for your piety that he reproves you, and enters into judgment with you?

⁵Is not your wickedness great? There is no end to your iniquities. ⁶For you have exacted pledges from your family for no reason, and stripped the naked of their clothing. ⁷You have given no water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry. ⁸The powerful possess the land, and the favored live in it. ⁹You have sent widows away empty-handed, and the arms of the orphans you have crushed. ¹⁰Therefore snares are around you, and sudden terror overwhelms you, ¹¹or 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! ¹³Therefore you say, ‘What does God know? Can he judge through the deep darkness? ¹⁴Thick clouds enwrap him, so that he does not see, and he walks on the dome of heaven.’

¹⁵Will you keep to the old way that the wicked have trod? ¹⁶They were snatched away before their time; their foundation was washed away by a flood. ¹⁷They said to God, ‘Leave us alone,’ and ‘What can the Almighty do to us?’ ¹⁸Yet he filled their houses with good things— but the plans of the wicked are repugnant to me. ¹⁹The righteous see it and are glad; the innocent laugh them to scorn, ²⁰saying, ‘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. ²²Receive instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in your heart. ²³If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored, if you remove unrighteousness from your tents, ²⁴if you treat gold like dust, and gold of Ophir like the stones of the torrent-bed, ²⁵and if the Almighty is your gold and your precious silver, ²⁶then you will delight yourself in the Almighty, and lift up your face to God. ²⁷You will pray to him, and he will hear you, and you will pay your vows. ²⁸You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you, and light will shine on your ways. ²⁹When others are humiliated, you say it is pride; for he saves the humble. ³⁰He will deliver even those who are guilty; they will escape because of the cleanness of your hands.”

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

⁸“If I go forward, he is not there; or backward, I cannot perceive him; ⁹on the left he hides, and I cannot behold him; I turn to the right, but I cannot see him. ¹⁰But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I shall come out like gold. ¹¹My foot has held fast to his steps; I have kept his way and have not turned aside. ¹²I have not departed from the commandment of his lips; I have treasured in my bosom the words of his mouth.

¹³But he stands alone and who can dissuade him? What he desires, that he does. ¹⁴For he will complete what he appoints for me; and many such things are in his mind. ¹⁵Therefore I am terrified at his presence; when I consider, I am in dread of him. ¹⁶God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me; ¹⁷If only I could vanish in darkness, and thick darkness would cover my face!

24“Why are times not kept by the Almighty, and why do those who know him never see his days? ²The wicked remove landmarks; they seize flocks and pasture them. ³They drive away the donkey of the orphan; they take the widow’s ox for a pledge. ⁴They thrust the needy off the road; the poor of the earth all hide themselves. ⁵Like wild asses in the desert they go out to their toil, scavenging in the wasteland food for their young. ⁶They reap in a field not their own and they glean in the vineyard of the wicked. ⁷They lie all night naked, without clothing, and have no covering in the cold. ⁸They are wet with the rain of the mountains, and cling to the rock for want of shelter. ⁹“There are those who snatch the orphan child from the breast, and take as a pledge the infant of the poor. ¹⁰They go about naked, without clothing; though hungry, they carry the sheaves; ¹¹between their terraces they press out oil; they tread the wine presses, but suffer thirst. ¹²From the city the dying groan, and the throat of the wounded cries for help; yet God pays no attention to their prayer.

¹³“There are those who rebel against the light, who are not acquainted with its ways, and do not stay in its paths. ¹⁴The murderer rises at dusk to kill the poor and needy, and in the night is like a thief. ¹⁵The eye of the adulterer also waits for the twilight, saying, ‘No eye will see me’; and he disguises his face. ¹⁶In the dark they dig through houses; by day they shut themselves up; they do not know the light. ¹⁷For deep darkness is morning to all of them; for they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness.

¹⁸“Swift are they on the face of the waters; their portion in the land is cursed; no treader turns toward their vineyards. ¹⁹Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters; so does Sheol those who have sinned. ²⁰The womb forgets them; the worm finds them sweet; they are no longer remembered; so wickedness is broken like a tree. ²¹“They harm the childless woman, and do no good to the widow. ²²Yet God prolongs the life of the mighty by his power; they rise up when they despair of life. ²³He gives them security, and they are supported; his eyes are upon their ways. ²⁴They are exalted a little while, and then are gone; they wither and fade like the mallow; they are cut off like the heads of grain. ²⁵If it is not so, who will prove me a liar, and show that there is nothing in what I say?”