| New Living Translation | NET Bible |
| 1Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied: | 1Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered: |
| 2“Can a person do anything to help God? Can even a wise person be helpful to him? | 2"Is it to God that a strong man is of benefit? Is it to him that even a wise man is profitable? |
| 3Is it any advantage to the Almighty if you are righteous? Would it be any gain to him if you were perfect? | 3Is it of any special benefit to the Almighty that you should be righteous, or is it any gain to him that you make your ways blameless? |
| 4Is it because you’re so pious that he accuses you and brings judgment against you? | 4Is it because of your piety that he rebukes you and goes to judgment with you? |
| 5No, it’s because of your wickedness! There’s no limit to your sins. | 5Is not your wickedness great and is there no end to your iniquity? |
| 6“For example, you must have lent money to your friend and demanded clothing as security. Yes, you stripped him to the bone. | 6"For you took pledges from your brothers for no reason, and you stripped the clothing from the naked. |
| 7You must have refused water for the thirsty and food for the hungry. | 7You gave the weary no water to drink and from the hungry you withheld food. |
| 8You probably think the land belongs to the powerful and only the privileged have a right to it! | 8Although you were a powerful man, owning land, an honored man living on it, |
| 9You must have sent widows away empty-handed and crushed the hopes of orphans. | 9you sent widows away empty-handed, and the arms of the orphans you crushed. |
| 10That is why you are surrounded by traps and tremble from sudden fears. | 10That is why snares surround you, and why sudden fear terrifies you, |
| 11That is why you cannot see in the darkness, and waves of water cover you. | 11why it is so dark you cannot see, and why a flood of water covers you. |
| 12“God is so great—higher than the heavens, higher than the farthest stars. | 12"Is not God on high in heaven? And see the lofty stars, how high they are! |
| 13But you reply, ‘That’s why God can’t see what I am doing! How can he judge through the thick darkness? | 13But you have said, 'What does God know? Does he judge through such deep darkness? |
| 14For thick clouds swirl about him, and he cannot see us. He is way up there, walking on the vault of heaven.’ | 14Thick clouds are a veil for him, so he does not see us, as he goes back and forth in the vault of heaven.' |
| 15“Will you continue on the old paths where evil people have walked? | 15Will you keep to the old path that evil men have walked-- |
| 16They were snatched away in the prime of life, the foundations of their lives washed away. | 16men who were carried off before their time, when the flood was poured out on their foundations? |
| 17For they said to God, ‘Leave us alone! What can the Almighty do to us?’ | 17They were saying to God, 'Turn away from us,' and 'What can the Almighty do to us?' |
| 18Yet he was the one who filled their homes with good things, so I will have nothing to do with that kind of thinking. | 18But it was he who filled their houses with good things--yet the counsel of the wicked was far from me. |
| 19“The righteous will be happy to see the wicked destroyed, and the innocent will laugh in contempt. | 19The righteous see their destruction and rejoice; the innocent mock them scornfully, saying, |
| 20They will say, ‘See how our enemies have been destroyed. The last of them have been consumed in the fire.’ | 20Surely our enemies are destroyed, and fire consumes their wealth.' |
| 21“Submit to God, and you will have peace; then things will go well for you. | 21"Reconcile yourself with God, and be at peace with him; in this way your prosperity will be good. |
| 22Listen to his instructions, and store them in your heart. | 22Accept instruction from his mouth and store up his words in your heart. |
| 23If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored— so clean up your life. | 23If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up; if you remove wicked behavior far from your tent, |
| 24If you give up your lust for money and throw your precious gold into the river, | 24and throw your gold in the dust--your gold of Ophir among the rocks in the ravines-- |
| 25the Almighty himself will be your treasure. He will be your precious silver! | 25then the Almighty himself will be your gold, and the choicest silver for you. |
| 26“Then you will take delight in the Almighty and look up to God. | 26Surely then you will delight yourself in the Almighty, and will lift up your face toward God. |
| 27You will pray to him, and he will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows to him. | 27You will pray to him and he will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows to him. |
| 28You will succeed in whatever you choose to do, and light will shine on the road ahead of you. | 28Whatever you decide on a matter, it will be established for you, and light will shine on your ways. |
| 29If people are in trouble and you say, ‘Help them,’ God will save them. | 29When people are brought low and you say 'Lift them up!' then he will save the downcast; |
| 30Even sinners will be rescued; they will be rescued because your hands are pure.” | 30he will deliver even someone who is not innocent, who will escape through the cleanness of your hands." |
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