Eliphaz Keeps Pointing at Sin
22 Then Eliphaz the Temanite responded saying:
2 “Can a man be useful to God?
Can even a wise man benefit Him?
3 What pleasure is it to Shaddai if you are righteous?
Or what gain if your ways are blameless?
4 Is it because of your reverence that He corrects you
and He brings judgment against you?
5 Is not your wickedness great,
and is there no end to your iniquity?
6 For you took pledges from your brothers for no reason;
you stripped the naked of their clothing.
7 You gave the weary no water to drink
and from the hungry you withhold bread,
8 Though you were a mighty man, owning land—
an honored man living on it.
9 You sent widows away empty-handed
and crushed the arms of orphans.
10 “That is why snares surround you,
and why sudden fear terrifies you,
11 or why it is so dark that you cannot see.
and why a flood of water covers you.
12 “Is not God in the heights of heaven?
And see the lofty stars how high they are?
13 Yet you say, ‘What does God know?
Does He judge through such thick darkness?
14 Thick clouds veil Him so He does not see,
as He walks in the vault of heaven.’
15 Will you keep to the old way
that wicked men have trod?
16 They were snatched away before their time,
their foundations washed away by a river.
17 They said to God, ‘Leave us alone!
What can Shaddai do to us?’
18 Yet He filled their houses with good things—
but the counsel of the wicked is far from me!
19 The righteous see and rejoice;
the innocent mock them, saying,
20 ‘Surely our foes are cut off,
and fire consumes their abundance.’
21 “Reconcile now with Him and have shalom—
in this way prosperity will come to you.
22 Accept instruction from His mouth
and store up His words in your heart.
23 If you return to Shaddai, you will be restored;
if you remove iniquity far from your tent
24 and throw your gold in the dust,
and the gold of Ophir to the rocks in the wadis,
25 then Shaddai will be your gold
and your precious silver.
26 Surely then Shaddai will be your delight
and you will lift up your face to God.
27 You will pray to Him and He will hear you,
and you will fulfill your vows.
28 What you decide will be done,
and light will shine on your ways.
29 When people are brought low, and you say, ‘Lift them up!’
then He will save the downcast.
30 He will deliver even one who is not innocent,
who will be delivered by the cleanness of your hands.”