Eliphaz: Can a Man Be of Use to God? 1 UST Then Eliphaz, Job’ s friend from the town of Teman, replied to what Job had said. Eliphaz told him, BSB BSB: Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:
2 UST “No one can do anything to benefit God! No, people can only do things to benefit themselves, and only if they are wise. BSB BSB: “Can a man be of use to God? Can even a wise man benefit Him?
3 UST It does not give Shaddai any extra pleasure if you live in the way you are supposed to live anyway. It does not make him better off if you improve the way you are living. BSB BSB: Does it delight the Almighty that you are righteous? Does He profit if your ways are blameless?
4 UST God would not be punishing you in this way if you truly honored him. God would not judge you to be guilty for doing that. BSB BSB: Is it for your reverence that He rebukes you and enters into judgment against you?
5 UST No, God must be punishing you because you are very wicked. You must have done a great number of evil things. BSB BSB: Is not your wickedness great? Are not your iniquities endless?
6 UST You must have unfairly forced poor people to give you things to guarantee that they would pay money back to you. You must have taken the cloaks that they needed to keep them warm. BSB BSB: For you needlessly demanded security from your brothers and deprived the naked of their clothing.
7 UST You must not have given water to people who were thirsty. You must not have given food to people who were hungry. BSB BSB: You gave no water to the weary and withheld food from the famished,
8 UST You must have refused to help others even though you were a wealthy man who owned a lot of land. You must have enjoyed a life of privilege{ without being concerned for others}. BSB BSB: while the land belonged to a mighty man, and a man of honor lived on it.
9 UST When widows came to you for help, you must have sent them away without giving them anything. You must have oppressed orphans. BSB BSB: You sent widows away empty-handed, and the strength of the fatherless was crushed.
10 UST Because you did all those things, now you are having difficulties in many different areas of your life. Things are happening all of a sudden that scare you. BSB BSB: Therefore snares surround you, and sudden peril terrifies you;
11 UST And so you do not know what to do, as if it had become very dark and you could not see anything. You cannot solve your problems; it is as if you were drowning in a flood of water. BSB BSB: it is so dark you cannot see, and a flood of water covers you.
12 UST But God lives high up in the heavens. He looks at the earth from a place that is even higher than the stars. BSB BSB: Is not God as high as the heavens? Look at the highest stars, how lofty they are!
13 UST So you should not say,‘God does not know what people are doing.’ You should not 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 UST You should not say,‘Since he walks on the dome that covers the sky, where there are thick clouds around him, and he can not see what we do.’ BSB BSB: Thick clouds veil Him so He does not see us as He traverses the vault of heaven.’
15 UST You should not continue to conduct your life in the way that evil people have done for many years. BSB BSB: Will you stay on the ancient path that wicked men have trod?
16 UST God makes evil people die suddenly while they are still young. They go away completely, as if a flood had swept them away. BSB BSB: They were snatched away before their time, and their foundations were swept away by a flood.
17 UST Those evil people told God,‘Leave us alone!’ They also said defiantly,‘Shaddai can do nothing to harm us!’ BSB BSB: They said to God, ‘Depart from us. What can the Almighty do to us?’
18 UST Even so, God mercifully gave them many things to enjoy. Nevertheless, I want to think completely differently from the way evil people think. BSB BSB: But it was He who filled their houses with good things; so I stay far from the counsel of the wicked.
19 UST When good people see that God punishes evil people, they are glad. People who have not done wrong say that those evil people are getting what they deserve. BSB BSB: The righteous see it and are glad; the innocent mock them:
20 UST Those good people say,‘Now God has destroyed our enemies! It is as if a fire has burned up everything they owned.’ BSB BSB: ‘Surely our foes are destroyed, and fire has consumed their excess.’
21 UST So, Job, I urge you to ask God to forgive you. Restore your relationship 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 UST Do pay attention to what God teaches you. Meditate on what he says. BSB BSB: Receive instruction from His mouth, and lay up His words in your heart.
23 UST If you come humbly to Shaddai, he will restore you.{ God will certainly do that} if you stop doing the evil things that you have been doing. BSB BSB: If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored. If you remove injustice from your tents
24 UST Stop trusting in your wealth. It should be as if you are throwing away your gold, even the finest gold you have, onto the dirt and rocks. BSB BSB: and consign your gold to the dust and the gold of Ophir to the stones of the ravines,
25 UST If you do that, then Shaddai will be more precious to you than your gold and your silver ever were. BSB BSB: then the Almighty will be your gold and the finest silver for you.
26 UST If you do that, then your relationship with Shaddai will make you very happy. You will be able to approach God confidently. BSB BSB: Surely then you will delight in the Almighty and lift up your face to God.
27 UST When you pray to God, he will do what you ask him to do. You will have many things to praise God for. BSB BSB: You will pray to Him, and He will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows.
28 UST The things that you decide to do will be successful. It will be as if a light were shining on the road in front of you so that you knew just where to walk. BSB BSB: Your decisions will be carried out, and light will shine on your ways.
29 UST People may cause great difficulties for you. But when you pray and humbly ask God to help you, he will save you. BSB BSB: When men are brought low and you say, ‘Lift them up!’ then He will save the lowly.
30 UST God will even help people who have done wrong things if you pray for them. God will answer your prayer because you will not have done wrong things.” 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.