False Accusations

¹ Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:

² "Can a man be of benefit to God?
Can even a wise man benefit him?

³ What pleasure would it give the Almighty if you were righteous?
What would he gain if your ways were blameless?

⁴ "Is it for your piety that he rebukes you
and brings charges against you?

⁵ Is not your wickedness great?
Are not your sins endless?

⁶ You demanded security from your brothers for no reason;
you stripped men of their clothing, leaving them naked.

⁷ You gave no water to the weary
and you withheld food from the hungry,

⁸ though you were a powerful man, owning land—
an honored man, living on it.

⁹ And you sent widows away empty-handed
and broke the strength of the fatherless.

¹⁰ That is why snares are all around you,
why sudden peril terrifies you,

¹¹ why it is so dark you cannot see,
and why a flood of water covers you.

¹² "Is not God in the heights of heaven?
And see how lofty are the highest stars!

¹³ Yet you say, 'What does God know?
Does he judge through such darkness?

¹⁴ Thick clouds veil him, so he does not see us
as he goes about in the vaulted heavens.'

¹⁵ Will you keep to the old path
that evil men have trod?

¹⁶ They were carried off before their time,
their foundations washed away by a flood.

¹⁷ They said to God, 'Leave us alone!
What can the Almighty do to us?'

¹⁸ Yet it was he who filled their houses with good things,
so I stand aloof from the counsel of the wicked.

¹⁹ "The righteous see their ruin and rejoice;
the innocent mock them, saying,

²⁰ 'Surely our foes are destroyed,
and fire devours their wealth.'

²¹ "Submit to God and be at peace with him;
in this way prosperity will come to you.

²² Accept instruction from his mouth
and lay up his words in your heart.

²³ If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored:
If you remove wickedness far from your tent

²⁴ and assign your nuggets to the dust,
your gold of Ophir to the rocks in the ravines,

²⁵ then the Almighty will be your gold,
the choicest silver for you.

²⁶ Surely then you will find delight in the Almighty
and will lift up your face to God.

²⁷ You will pray to him, and he will hear you,
and you will fulfill your vows.

²⁸ What you decide on will be done,
and light will shine on your ways.

²⁹ When men are brought low and you say, 'Lift them up!'
then he will save the downcast.

³⁰ He will deliver even one who is not innocent,
who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands."

¹ Then Job replied:

² "Even today my complaint is bitter;
his hand is heavy in spite of my groaning.

³ If only I knew where to find him;
if only I could go to his dwelling!

⁴ I would state my case before him
and fill my mouth with arguments.

⁵ I would find out what he would answer me,
and consider what he would say.

⁶ Would he oppose me with great power?
No, he would not press charges against me.

⁷ There an upright man could present his case before him,
and I would be delivered forever from my judge.

⁸ "But if I go to the east, he is not there;
if I go to the west, I do not find him.

⁹ When he is at work in the north, I do not see him;
when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him.

¹⁰ But he knows the way that I take;
when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.

¹¹ My feet have closely followed his steps;
I have kept to his way without turning aside.

¹² I have not departed from the commands of his lips;
I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.

¹³ "But he stands alone, and who can oppose him?
He does whatever he pleases.

¹⁴ He carries out his decree against me,
and many such plans he still has in store.

¹⁵ That is why I am terrified before him;
when I think of all this, I fear him.

¹⁶ God has made my heart faint;
the Almighty has terrified me.

¹⁷ Yet I am not silenced by the darkness,
by the thick darkness that covers my face.

¹ "Why does the Almighty not set times for judgment?
Why must those who know him look in vain for such days?

² Men move boundary stones;
they pasture flocks they have stolen.

³ They drive away the orphan's donkey
and take the widow's ox in pledge.

⁴ They thrust the needy from the path
and force all the poor of the land into hiding.

⁵ Like wild donkeys in the desert,
the poor go about their labor of foraging food;
the wasteland provides food for their children.

⁶ They gather fodder in the fields
and glean in the vineyards of the wicked.

⁷ Lacking clothes, they spend the night naked;
they have nothing to cover themselves in the cold.

⁸ They are drenched by mountain rains
and hug the rocks for lack of shelter.

⁹ The fatherless child is snatched from the breast;
the infant of the poor is seized for a debt.

¹⁰ Lacking clothes, they go about naked;
they carry the sheaves, but still go hungry.

¹¹ They crush olives among the terraces ;
they tread the winepresses, yet suffer thirst.

¹² The groans of the dying rise from the city,
and the souls of the wounded cry out for help.
But God charges no one with wrongdoing.

¹³ "There are those who rebel against the light,
who do not know its ways
or stay in its paths.

¹⁴ When daylight is gone, the murderer rises up
and kills the poor and needy;
in the night he steals forth like a thief.

¹⁵ The eye of the adulterer watches for dusk;
he thinks, 'No eye will see me,'
and he keeps his face concealed.

¹⁶ In the dark, men break into houses,
but by day they shut themselves in;
they want nothing to do with the light.

¹⁷ For all of them, deep darkness is their morning ;
they make friends with the terrors of darkness.

¹⁸ "Yet they are foam on the surface of the water;
their portion of the land is cursed,
so that no one goes to the vineyards.

¹⁹ As heat and drought snatch away the melted snow,
so the grave snatches away those who have sinned.

²⁰ The womb forgets them,
the worm feasts on them;
evil men are no longer remembered
but are broken like a tree.

²¹ They prey on the barren and childless woman,
and to the widow show no kindness.

²² But God drags away the mighty by his power;
though they become established, they have no assurance of life.

²³ He may let them rest in a feeling of security,
but his eyes are on their ways.

²⁴ For a little while they are exalted, and then they are gone;
they are brought low and gathered up like all others;
they are cut off like heads of grain.

²⁵ "If this is not so, who can prove me false
and reduce my words to nothing?"

New International Version