Eliphaz: Can a Man Be of Use to God?

1So Eliphas the Themanite gaue answere, & sayde:

2Maye a man be copared vnto God in wysdome, though he seme to himself, for to be like him?

3What pleasure hath God in yt thou art rightuous? Or what doth it profite him, yt thy waies are perfecte?

4Is he afrayed to reproue the, & to steppe forth wt the in to iudgment?

5Cometh not this for ye greate wickednesse, & for thine vngracious dedes which are innumerable?

6Thou hast take the pledge from thy brethre for naught, & robbed the naked of their clothinge:

7To soch as were weery, hast thou geue no water to drynke, thou hast withdrawe bred fro the hungrie:

8Shulde soch one the as vseth violece, wroge & oppression (doinge all thinges of parcialyte, & hauynge respecte of personnes) dwell in the lode?

9Thou hast sent wyddowes awaye emptie and oppressed the poore fatherlesse.

10Therfore art thou compased aboute with snares on euery syde, & sodely vexed wt feare.

11Shuldest thou the se no darcknesse? Shulde not the water floude runne ouer the?

12Now because yt God is hyer the the heauens, & because thou seist yt the starres are so hye,

13wilt thou therfore saye: Tush, how shulde God knowe? Doth his dominion reach beyonde the cloudes?

14Tush, the cloudes couer him, yt he maye not se, for he dwelleth in heauen.

15Well, thou wilt kepe the olde waye, yt all wicked me haue gone:

16both olde & yonge, whose foundacion is a runnynge water,

17which saye vnto God: go from vs, and after this maner: Tush, what wil the Allmightie do vnto vs?

18where as he (not with stodinge) fylleth their houses wt all good. Which meanynge of the vngodly be farre fro me.

19For wt ioy shal the godly, and with gladnesse shal the innocent se,

20that their increase shal be hewen downe, & their posterite consumed with the fyre.

21Therfore recocile the vnto God, & be content, so shal all thinges prospere wt the right well.

22Receaue the lawe at his mouth, & laye vp his wordes in thine herte.

23For yf thou wilt turne to the Allmightie, thou shalt stonde fast, & all vnrightuousnesse shall be farre from thy dwellinge:

24He shal geue the an haruest, which in plenty & abundaunce shall exceade the dust of the earth, and the golde of Ophir like ryuer stones.

25Yee the Allmightie his owne self shalbe thine haruest, & the heape of thy money.

26Then shalt thou haue thy delyte in the Allmightie, & lift vp thy face vnto God.

27The shalt thou make thy prayer vnto him, & he shal heare the, & thou shalt kepe thy promyses.

28The, loke what thou takest in honde, he shal make it to prospere with the, and the light shall shyne in thy wayes.

29For who so humbleth himself, him shal he set vp: and who so loketh mekely, shalbe healed.

30Yf thou be innocet, he shal saue the: and thorow the vngiltynesse of thyne handes shalt thou be delyuered.