| New Living Translation | New International Version |
| 1Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied: | 1Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied: |
| 2“Can a person do anything to help God? Can even a wise person be helpful to him? | 2"Can a man be of benefit to God? Can even a wise person benefit him? |
| 3Is it any advantage to the Almighty if you are righteous? Would it be any gain to him if you were perfect? | 3What pleasure would it give the Almighty if you were righteous? What would he gain if your ways were blameless? |
| 4Is it because you’re so pious that he accuses you and brings judgment against you? | 4"Is it for your piety that he rebukes you and brings charges against you? |
| 5No, it’s because of your wickedness! There’s no limit to your sins. | 5Is not your wickedness great? Are not your sins endless? |
| 6“For example, you must have lent money to your friend and demanded clothing as security. Yes, you stripped him to the bone. | 6You demanded security from your relatives for no reason; you stripped people of their clothing, leaving them naked. |
| 7You must have refused water for the thirsty and food for the hungry. | 7You gave no water to the weary and you withheld food from the hungry, |
| 8You probably think the land belongs to the powerful and only the privileged have a right to it! | 8though 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. | 9And you sent widows away empty-handed and broke the strength of the fatherless. |
| 10That is why you are surrounded by traps and tremble from sudden fears. | 10That is why snares are all around you, why sudden peril 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 in the heights of heaven? And see how lofty are the highest stars! |
| 13But you reply, ‘That’s why God can’t see what I am doing! How can he judge through the thick darkness? | 13Yet you say, 'What does God know? Does he judge through such 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 veil him, so he does not see us as he goes about in the vaulted heavens.' |
| 15“Will you continue on the old paths where evil people have walked? | 15Will you keep to the old path that the wicked have trod? |
| 16They were snatched away in the prime of life, the foundations of their lives washed away. | 16They were carried off before their time, their foundations washed away by a flood. |
| 17For they said to God, ‘Leave us alone! What can the Almighty do to us?’ | 17They said to God, 'Leave us alone! 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. | 18Yet it was he who filled their houses with good things, so I stand aloof from the plans of the wicked. |
| 19“The righteous will be happy to see the wicked destroyed, and the innocent will laugh in contempt. | 19The righteous see their ruin and rejoice; the innocent mock them, saying, |
| 20They will say, ‘See how our enemies have been destroyed. The last of them have been consumed in the fire.’ | 20Surely our foes are destroyed, and fire devours their wealth.' |
| 21“Submit to God, and you will have peace; then things will go well for you. | 21"Submit to God and be at peace with him; in this way prosperity will come to you. |
| 22Listen to his instructions, and store them in your heart. | 22Accept instruction from his mouth and lay 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 restored: If you remove wickedness far from your tent |
| 24If you give up your lust for money and throw your precious gold into the river, | 24and assign your nuggets to the dust, your gold of Ophir to the rocks in the ravines, |
| 25the Almighty himself will be your treasure. He will be your precious silver! | 25then the Almighty will be your gold, the choicest silver for you. |
| 26“Then you will take delight in the Almighty and look up to God. | 26Surely then you will find delight in the Almighty and will lift up your face to 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. |
| 28You will succeed in whatever you choose to do, and light will shine on the road ahead of you. | 28What you decide on will be done, 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 one who is not innocent, who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands." |
| Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. | New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. |
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