Verse 1. Then Eliphaz the Themanite answered, and said:
Verse 2. Can man be compared with God, even though he were of perfect knowledge?
Verse 3. What doth it profit God if thou be just? or what dost thou give him if thy way be unspotted?
Verse 4. Shall he reprove thee for fear, and come with thee into judgment:
Verse 5. And not for thy manifold wickedness, and thy infinite iniquities?
Verse 6. For thou hast taken away the pledge of thy brethren without cause, and stripped the naked of their clothing.
Verse 7. Thou hast not given water to the weary, thou hast withdrawn bread from the hungry.
Verse 8. In the strength of thy arm thou didst possess the land, and being the most mighty thou holdest it.
Verse 9. Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless thou hast broken in pieces.
Verse 10. Therefore art thou surrounded with snares, and sudden fear troubleth thee.
Verse 11. And didst thou think that thou shouldst not see darkness, and that thou shouldst not be covered with the violence of overflowing waters?
Verse 12. Dost not thou think that God is higher than heaven, and is elevated above the height of the stars?
Verse 13. And thou sayst: What doth God know? and he judgeth as it were through a mist.
Verse 14. The clouds are his covert, and he doth not consider our things, and he walketh about the poles of heaven.
Verse 15. Dost thou desire to keep the path of ages, which wicked men have trodden?
Verse 16. Who were taken away before their time, and a flood hath overthrown their foundation.
Verse 17. Who said to God: Depart from us: and looked upon the Almighty as if he could do nothing:
Verse 18. Whereas he had filled their houses with good things: whose way of thinking be far from me.
Verse 19. The just shall see, and shall rejoice, and the innocent shall laugh them to scorn.
Verse 20. Is not their exaltation cut down, and hath not fire devoured the remnants of them?
Verse 21. Submit thyself then to him, and be at peace: and thereby thou shalt have the best fruits.
Verse 22. Receive the law of his mouth, and lay up his words in thy heart.
Verse 23. If thou wilt return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, and shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacle.
Verse 24. He shall give for earth flint, and for flint torrents of gold.
Verse 25. And the Almighty shall be against thy enemies, and silver shall be heaped together for thee.
Verse 26. Then shalt thou abound in delights in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face to God.
Verse 27. Thou shalt pray to him, and he will hear thee, and thou shalt pay vows.
Verse 28. Thou shalt decree a thing, and it shall come to thee, and light shall shine in thy ways.
Verse 29. For he that hath been humbled, shall be in glory: and he that shall bow down his eyes, he shall be saved.
Verse 30. The innocent shall be saved, and he shall be saved by the cleanness of his hands.