Study

Eliphaz Speaks: Job’s Wickedness Is Great

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Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:

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“Can a mortal be of use to God?

Can even the wisest be of service to him?

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Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are righteous,

or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless?

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Is it for your piety that he reproves you,

and enters into judgment with you?

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Is not your wickedness great?

There is no end to your iniquities.

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For you have exacted pledges from your family for no reason,

and stripped the naked of their clothing.

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You have given no water to the weary to drink,

and you have withheld bread from the hungry.

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The powerful possess the land,

and the favored live in it.

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You have sent widows away empty-handed,

and the arms of the orphans you have crushed.

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Therefore snares are around you,

and sudden terror overwhelms you,

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or darkness so that you cannot see;

a flood of water covers you.

 

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“Is not God high in the heavens?

See the highest stars, how lofty they are!

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Therefore you say, ‘What does God know?

Can he judge through the deep darkness?

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Thick clouds enwrap him, so that he does not see,

and he walks on the dome of heaven.’

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Will you keep to the old way

that the wicked have trod?

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They were snatched away before their time;

their foundation was washed away by a flood.

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They said to God, ‘Leave us alone,’

and ‘What can the Almighty do to us?’

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Yet he filled their houses with good things—

but the plans of the wicked are repugnant to me.

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The righteous see it and are glad;

the innocent laugh them to scorn,

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saying, ‘Surely our adversaries are cut off,

and what they left, the fire has consumed.’

 

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“Agree with God, and be at peace;

in this way good will come to you.

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Receive instruction from his mouth,

and lay up his words in your heart.

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If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored,

if you remove unrighteousness from your tents,

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if you treat gold like dust,

and gold of Ophir like the stones of the torrent-bed,

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and if the Almighty is your gold

and your precious silver,

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then you will delight yourself in the Almighty,

and lift up your face to God.

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You will pray to him, and he will hear you,

and you will pay your vows.

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You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you,

and light will shine on your ways.

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When others are humiliated, you say it is pride;

for he saves the humble.

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He will deliver even those who are guilty;

they will escape because of the cleanness of your hands.”