| English Standard Version | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
| 1Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said: | 1Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied: |
| 2“Can a man be profitable to God? Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself. | 2Can a man be of any use to God? Can even a wise man be of use to Him? |
| 3Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are in the right, or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless? | 3Does it delight the Almighty if you are righteous? Does He profit if you perfect your behavior? |
| 4Is it for your fear of him that he reproves you and enters into judgment with you? | 4Does He correct you and take you to court because of your piety? |
| 5Is not your evil abundant? There is no end to your iniquities. | 5Isn't your wickedness abundant and aren't your iniquities endless? |
| 6For you have exacted pledges of your brothers for nothing and stripped the naked of their clothing. | 6For you took collateral from your brothers without cause, stripping off their clothes and leaving them naked. |
| 7You have given no water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry. | 7You gave no water to the thirsty and withheld food from the famished, |
| 8The man with power possessed the land, and the favored man lived in it. | 8while the land belonged to a powerful man and an influential man lived on it. |
| 9You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless were crushed. | 9You sent widows away empty-handed, and the strength of the fatherless was crushed. |
| 10Therefore snares are all around you, and sudden terror overwhelms you, | 10Therefore snares surround you, and sudden dread terrifies you, |
| 11or darkness, so that you cannot see, and a flood of water covers you. | 11or darkness, so you cannot see, and a flood of water covers you. |
| 12“Is not God high in the heavens? See the highest stars, how lofty they are! | 12Isn't God as high as the heavens? And look at the highest stars--how lofty they are! |
| 13But you say, ‘What does God know? Can he judge through the deep darkness? | 13Yet you say: "What does God know? Can He judge through thick darkness? |
| 14Thick clouds veil him, so that he does not see, and he walks on the vault of heaven.’ | 14Clouds veil Him so that He cannot see, as He walks on the circle of the sky." |
| 15Will you keep to the old way that wicked men have trod? | 15Will you continue on the ancient path that wicked men have walked? |
| 16They were snatched away before their time; their foundation was washed away. | 16They were snatched away before their time, and their foundations were washed away by a river. |
| 17They said to God, ‘Depart from us,’ and ‘What can the Almighty do to us?’ | 17They were the ones who said to God, "Leave us alone!" and "What can the Almighty do to us?" |
| 18Yet he filled their houses with good things— but the counsel of the wicked is far from me. | 18But it was He who filled their houses with good things. The counsel of the wicked is far from me! |
| 19The righteous see it and are glad; the innocent one mocks at them, | 19The righteous see this and rejoice; the innocent mock them, saying, |
| 20saying, ‘Surely our adversaries are cut off, and what they left the fire has consumed.’ | 20"Surely our opponents are destroyed, and fire has consumed what they left behind." |
| 21“Agree with God, and be at peace; thereby good will come to you. | 21Come to terms with God and be at peace; in this way good will come to you. |
| 22Receive instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in your heart. | 22Receive instruction from His mouth, and place His sayings in your heart. |
| 23If you return to the Almighty you will be built up; if you remove injustice far from your tents, | 23If you return to the Almighty, you will be renewed. If you banish injustice from your tent |
| 24if you lay gold in the dust, and gold of Ophir among the stones of the torrent-bed, | 24and consign your gold to the dust, the gold of Ophir to the stones in the wadis, |
| 25then the Almighty will be your gold and your precious silver. | 25the Almighty will be your gold and your finest silver. |
| 26For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty and lift up your face to God. | 26Then you will delight in the Almighty and lift up your face to God. |
| 27You will make your prayer to him, and he will hear you, and you will pay your vows. | 27You will pray to Him, and He will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows. |
| 28You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you, and light will shine on your ways. | 28When you make a decision, it will be carried out, and light will shine on your ways. |
| 29For when they are humbled you say, ‘It is because of pride’; but he saves the lowly. | 29When others are humiliated and you say, "Lift them up," God will save the humble. |
| 30He delivers even the one who is not innocent, who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.” | 30He will even rescue the guilty one, who will be rescued by the purity of your hands. |
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