Study Desk

Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:

Can a man be of any use to God? Can even a wise man be of use to Him?

Does it delight the Almighty if you are righteous? Does He profit if you perfect your behavior?^(a)

Does He correct you and take you to court because of your piety?^(b)

Isn't your wickedness abundant and aren't your iniquities endless?

For you took collateral^(c) from your brothers without cause, stripping off their clothes and leaving them naked.

You gave no water to the thirsty and withheld food from the famished,^(d)

while the land belonged to a powerful man and an influential man lived on it.

You sent widows away empty-handed, and the strength of the fatherless^(e) was^[a] crushed.

Therefore snares surround you, and sudden dread terrifies^(f) you,

or darkness, so you cannot see, and a flood of water covers you.^(g)

Isn't God as high as the heavens? And look at the highest stars—how lofty they are!

Yet you say: "What does God know? Can He judge through thick darkness?^(h)

Clouds⁽ⁱ⁾ veil Him so that He cannot see, as He walks on the circle of the sky."

Will you continue on the ancient path that wicked men have walked?

They were snatched away before their time, and their foundations^(j) were washed away by a river.

They were the ones who said to God, "Leave us alone!" and "What can the Almighty do to us?"^[b](k)

But it was He who filled their houses with good things. The counsel of the wicked is far from me!

The righteous see this and rejoice; the innocent mock them, saying,^(l)

"Surely our opponents are destroyed, and fire has consumed what they left behind."^(m)

Come to terms with God and be at peace;⁽ⁿ⁾ in this way^[c] good will come to you.

Receive instruction from His mouth,^(o) and place His sayings^(p) in your heart.

If you return^(q) to the Almighty, you will be renewed. If you banish injustice from your tent

and consign your gold to the dust, the gold of Ophir^(r) to the stones in the wadis,

the Almighty will be your gold and your finest silver.

Then you will delight^(s) in the Almighty and lift up your face to God.^(t)

You will pray to Him, and He will hear you,^(u) and you will fulfill your vows.

When you make a decision, it will be carried out,^[d] and light will shine on your ways.^(v)

When others are humiliated and you say, "Lift them up," God will save the humble.^[e](w)

He will even rescue the guilty one, who will be rescued by the purity of your hands.^(x)

Then Job answered:

Today also my complaint is bitter.^[a](a) His^[b] hand is heavy despite my groaning.

If only I knew how to find Him, so that I could go to His throne.

I would plead my case before Him^(b) and fill my mouth with arguments.

I would learn how^[c] He would answer me; and understand what He would say to me.

Would He prosecute^(c) me forcefully? No, He will certainly pay attention to me.

Then an upright man could reason^(d) with Him, and I would escape from my Judge^(e) forever.

If I go east, He is not there, and if I go west, I cannot perceive Him.^(f)

When He is at work to the north, I cannot see Him; when He turns south, I cannot find Him.

Yet He knows the way I have taken;^[d] when He has tested me,^(g) I will emerge as pure gold.

My feet have followed in His tracks; I have kept to His way^(h) and not turned aside.

I have not departed from the commands of His lips; I have treasured^[e] the words⁽ⁱ⁾ of His mouth more than my daily food.

But He is unchangeable; who can oppose Him? He does what He desires.^(j)

He will certainly accomplish what He has decreed for me, and He has many more things like these in mind.^[f]

Therefore I am terrified^(k) in His presence; when I consider this, I am afraid of Him.

God has made my heart faint;^(l) the Almighty has terrified me.

Yet I am not destroyed^[g] by the darkness,^(m) by the thick darkness that covers my face.

Why does the Almighty not reserve times for judgment?^(a) Why do those who know Him never see His days?

The wicked displace boundary markers. They steal a flock and provide pasture for it.

They drive away the donkeys owned by the fatherless^(b) and take the widow's ox as collateral.

They push the needy off the road; the poor of the land are forced into hiding.^(c)

Like wild donkeys in the desert, the poor go out to their task of foraging for food; the wilderness provides nourishment for their children.

They gather their fodder in the field and glean the vineyards of the wicked.

Without clothing, they spend the night naked, having no covering against the cold.^(d)

Drenched by mountain rains, they huddle against^[a] the rocks, shelterless.

The fatherless infant is snatched from the breast; the nursing child of the poor is seized as collateral.^[b]

Without clothing, they wander about naked. They carry sheaves but go hungry.^(e)

They crush olives in their presses;^[c] they tread the winepresses, but go thirsty.

From the city, men^[d] groan; the mortally wounded cry for help, yet God pays no attention to this crime.^(f)

The wicked are those who rebel against the light. They do not recognize its ways or stay on its paths.

The murderer rises at dawn to kill the poor and needy, and by night he becomes a thief.

The adulterer's eye watches for twilight, thinking: No eye will see me; he covers his face.

In the dark they break^[e] into houses; by day they lock themselves in,^[f] never experiencing the light.

For the morning is like darkness to them. Surely they are familiar with the terrors of darkness!

They float^[g] on the surface of the water. Their section of the land is cursed, so that they never go to their vineyards.

As dry ground and heat snatch away the melted snow, so Sheol^(g) steals those who have sinned.

The womb forgets them; worms feed on them; they are remembered^(h) no more. So injustice is broken like a tree.

They prey on^[h] the childless woman who is unable to conceive, and do not deal kindly with the widow.

Yet God drags away^[i] the mighty by His power; when He rises up, they have no assurance of life.

He gives them a sense of security, so they can rely on it,⁽ⁱ⁾ but His eyes^(j) watch over their ways.

They are exalted for a moment, then they are gone; they are brought low and shrivel up like everything else.^[j] They wither like heads of grain.^(k)

If this is not true, then who can prove me a liar^(l) and show that my speech is worthless?