1Then Eliphaz from Teman replied [to Job],

2"Can a human be of any use to God when even a wise person is only useful to himself?

3Is the Almighty pleased when you are righteous? Does he gain anything when you follow the path of integrity?

4Does God correct you and bring you into a court of law because you fear him?

5"Aren't you really very wicked? Is there no end to your wrongdoing?

6For no reason you take your brothers' goods as security for a loan and strip them of their clothes.

7You don't even give a tired person a drink of water, and you take food away from hungry people.

8A strong person owns the land. A privileged person lives in it.

9You send widows away empty-handed, and the arms of orphans are broken.

10That is why traps are all around you and great fear suddenly grips you.

11[That is why] darkness surrounds you and you cannot see and a flood of water covers you.

12"Isn't God high above in the heavens? Look how high the highest stars are!

13You ask, 'What does God know? Can he judge [anything] from behind a dark cloud?

14Thick clouds surround him so that he cannot see. He walks above the clouds.'

15"Are you following the old path that wicked people have taken?

16They are snatched up before their time. A river washes their foundation away.

17They told God, 'Leave us alone! What can the Almighty do for us?'

18Yet, he filled their homes with good things. (The plan of the wicked is foreign to my way of thinking.)

19The righteous saw it and were glad, and the innocent made fun of them by saying,

20'Indeed, their wealth has been wiped out, and a fire has burned up what [little] they had left.'

21"Be in harmony and at peace with God. In this way you will have prosperity.

22Accept instruction from his mouth, and keep his words in your heart.

23If you return to the Almighty, you will prosper. If you put wrongdoing out of your tent,

24and lay your gold down in the dust, and put your gold from Ophir among the pebbles in the rivers,

25then the Almighty will become your gold and your large supply of silver.

26Then you will be happy with the Almighty and look up toward God.

27You will pray to him, and he will listen to you, and you will keep your vow to him.

28When you promise to do something, you will succeed, and light will shine on your path.

29When others are discouraged, you will say, 'Cheer up!' Then he will save the humble person.

30He will rescue one who is not innocent. That person will be rescued by your purity."