Eliphaz: Can a Man Be of Use to God? 1 UDB Then Eliphaz replied, saying this: BSB BSB: Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:
2 UDB "No one can be useful to God! People who are wise can be useful to themselves, but not to God. BSB BSB: “Can a man be of use to God? Can even a wise man benefit Him?
3 UDB If you were righteous, that would not please Almighty God, would it? If you lived a perfect life, that would not help him, would it? BSB BSB: Does it delight the Almighty that you are righteous? Does He profit if your ways are blameless?
4 UDB Do you honor God, and is that why he punishes you? Is that the reason that he puts you on trial? BSB BSB: Is it for your reverence that He rebukes you and enters into judgment against you?
5 UDB No, it certainly must be because you are extremely wicked. It must be that no one can count the evil things that you have done! BSB BSB: Is not your wickedness great? Are not your iniquities endless?
6 UDB You must have lent money to others and wrongly forced them to give you things to guarantee that they would pay that money back to you; you must have taken all their clothes and left them with nothing to wear. BSB BSB: For you needlessly demanded security from your brothers and deprived the naked of their clothing.
7 UDB You must not have given water to those who were thirsty, and you must have refused to give food to those who were hungry. BSB BSB: You gave no water to the weary and withheld food from the famished,
8 UDB Because you were very powerful, you must have taken over all the people's land, and then you began to live on that land, even though others honored you very much. BSB BSB: while the land belonged to a mighty man, and a man of honor lived on it.
9 UDB When widows came to you for help, you must have sent them away without giving them anything, and you must have oppressed orphans. BSB BSB: You sent widows away empty-handed, and the strength of the fatherless was crushed.
10 UDB Because you did all those things, now there are traps that will catch you; now things appear that terrify you and cause you to tremble. BSB BSB: Therefore snares surround you, and sudden peril terrifies you;
11 UDB It is as though it had become very dark, with the result that you cannot see anything, and it is as though a flood covered you. BSB BSB: it is so dark you cannot see, and a flood of water covers you.
12 UDB But consider this, Job: God lives high up in the heavens. From there he looks down on the highest stars. BSB BSB: Is not God as high as the heavens? Look at the highest stars, how lofty they are!
13 UDB So why do you say, 'God knows nothing about what we are doing'? And why do you say, 'Dark clouds keep him from seeing us, so he cannot judge us'? BSB BSB: Yet you say: ‘What does God know? Does He judge through thick darkness?
14 UDB Do you think that while he walks on the dome that covers the sky, where there are thick clouds around him, he cannot see what we do?' BSB BSB: Thick clouds veil Him so He does not see us as He traverses the vault of heaven.’
15 UDB Will you, Job, continue to conduct your life in the old way that evil people have done for many years? BSB BSB: Will you stay on the ancient path that wicked men have trod?
16 UDB They suddenly died while they were still young; they disappeared like everything disappears when there is a flood. BSB BSB: They were snatched away before their time, and their foundations were swept away by a flood.
17 UDB They kept saying to God, 'Leave us alone,' 'Allow us to be alone,' and they also said defiantly, 'Almighty God can do nothing to harm us!' BSB BSB: They said to God, ‘Depart from us. What can the Almighty do to us?’
18 UDB Yet it was God who filled their houses with good things; so I cannot agree at all to follow what the wicked plan. BSB BSB: But it was He who filled their houses with good things; so I stay far from the counsel of the wicked.
19 UDB When righteous people see that God punishes wicked people, they are glad, and they laugh at those wicked people. BSB BSB: The righteous see it and are glad; the innocent mock them:
20 UDB They say, 'Now our enemies have been destroyed, and fire has burned up anything left of their wealth.' BSB BSB: ‘Surely our foes are destroyed, and fire has consumed their excess.’
21 UDB So, Job, be reconciled to God and make peace with him; if you do that, good things will happen to you. BSB BSB: Reconcile now and be at peace with Him; thereby good will come to you.
22 UDB Allow him to teach you, and put his words into your mind. BSB BSB: Receive instruction from His mouth, and lay up His words in your heart.
23 UDB If you humble yourself and return to God, he will restore you; if you stop doing all the evil things that you have been doing in your house, BSB BSB: If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored. If you remove injustice from your tents
24 UDB and if you throw away your gold, the fine gold from the dry stream beds in Ophir land, BSB BSB: and consign your gold to the dust and the gold of Ophir to the stones of the ravines,
25 UDB then Almighty God will be to be as precious to you as your gold and your silver have been. BSB BSB: then the Almighty will be your gold and the finest silver for you.
26 UDB Then you will be happy because of God, and you will be able to approach him confidently. BSB BSB: Surely then you will delight in the Almighty and lift up your face to God.
27 UDB You will pray to him, and he will do what you request him to do; you will do the things that you promised him that you would do. BSB BSB: You will pray to Him, and He will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows.
28 UDB Everything that you decide to do will be successful; it will be as though a light were shining on the road in front of you. BSB BSB: Your decisions will be carried out, and light will shine on your ways.
29 UDB God humbles those who are proud, but he saves those who are downcast. BSB BSB: When men are brought low and you say, ‘Lift them up!’ then He will save the lowly.
30 UDB God rescues those who are not innocent; they will be rescued because you do what is right." BSB BSB: He will deliver even one who is not innocent, rescuing him through the cleanness of your hands.”
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.