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¹ THEN Eliphaz, the Temanite, answered and said,² O man, can you converse with God; are you equal with him in wisdom?³ What do you profit by trying to make it seem that your ways are perfect because you are afraid?⁴ He will reprove you, and enter into judgment with you.

⁵ Behold, your wickedness is great, and there is no end to your sins.⁶ For you have taken a pledge from your brothers for nothing, and stripped the naked of their clothing.⁷ You have not given water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry.⁸ There is a man who sows a field for himself, and the mighty man seizes it from him by force.⁹ You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless you have broken.¹⁰ Therefore snares are round about you, and sudden fear causes you to tremble;¹¹ Where is the darkness, that you cannot see; and the flood of water that covers you?¹² Behold, God is in the height of heaven, and sees the highest of the stars that are very high.¹³ And yet you say, How does God know? Can he judge through the thick darkness?¹⁴ Thick clouds are a covering to him, so that men cannot see him; and he walks upon the circle of the heaven.

¹⁵ Have you marked well the old way which wicked men have trodden long ago?¹⁶ Those who were cut down before their time, who were stopped at the crossing place of the river of life, and then did not remember who had laid down their pattern of living,¹⁷ Who said to God, Depart from us; what can God do for us?¹⁸ Yet he filled their houses with good things, and the counsel of the wicked kept away from them.¹⁹ The righteous shall see it, and shall be glad; and the innocent shall laugh them to scorn.²⁰ If they are not prostrated because of their stubbornness, then their remnant shall be consumed with fire.

²¹ Make now an agreement with God, and offer to him of your good crops.²² Receive the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in your heart.²³ If you shall repent before God, you shall be built up; if you shall put away iniquity from your dwelling place;²⁴ Then you shall lay up silver like dust, and the gold of Ophir as the sand of the valley.²⁵ Yea, God shall be your defense, and you shall have plenty of silver.²⁶ For then you shall lift up your face to God.²⁷ And you shall make your prayer to him, and he shall hear you, and you shall fulfill your vows.²⁸ You shall also decree a thing, and it shall be established for you; and the light shall shine upon your ways.²⁹ For it is said, He who humbles himself shall be exalted; and he who is meek shall be saved.³⁰ The innocent man shall be spared wherever he is, and he shall escape by the purity of his hands.