Eliphaz Speaks: Job’s Wickedness Is Great

22Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:
² ‘Can a mortal be of use to God?
   Can even the wisest be of service to him?
³ Is it any pleasure to the Almighty^* if you are righteous,
   or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless?
⁴ Is it for your piety that he reproves you,
   and enters into judgement with you?
²¹ ‘Agree with God,^* and be at peace;
   in this way good will come to you.
²² Receive 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 unrighteousness from your tents,
²⁴ if you treat gold like dust,
   and gold of Ophir like the stones of the torrent-bed,
²⁵ and if the Almighty^* is your gold
   and your precious silver,
²⁶ then you will delight in the Almighty,^*
   and lift up your face to God.
²⁷ You will pray to him, and he will hear you,
   and you will pay your vows.
²⁸ You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you,
   and light will shine on your ways.
²⁹ When others are humiliated, you say it is pride;
   for he saves the humble.
³⁰ He will deliver even those who are guilty;
   they will escape because of the cleanness of your hands.’^*

Job Replies: My Complaint Is Bitter

23Then Job answered:
² ‘Today also my complaint is bitter;^*
   his^* hand is heavy despite my groaning.
³ O that I knew where I might find him,
   that I might come even to his dwelling!
⁴ I would lay my case before him,
   and fill my mouth with arguments.
⁵ I would learn what he would answer me,
   and understand what he would say to me.
⁶ Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power?
   No; but he would give heed to me.
⁷ There an upright person could reason with him,
   and I should be acquitted for ever by my judge. 

Job complains to God

Eliphaz tells Job how to deal with his religious problem: he should humble himself before God, who has no need of human beings and owes them nothing. Job declares that God is his religious problem: if God is responsible for what happens in the world, He, God, has some questions to answer. Deeper than Job’s bitterness however is his search for God’s welling. He wants God more even than he wants God’s answers. It is this stubborn desire which ultimately gains Job the encounter he demands. Such purity of intention is rare and often thought to be the habit only of mystics. But here we see it displayed in a character who experiences no unusual religious abilities but simply refuses to let go either of his own experience or of God. He won’t admit that his own suffering is trivial nor allow it to blot out his faith in God.