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- And Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,
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- Can a man be profitable to God?
surely it is unto himself that the wise man is profitable.
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- Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if thou art righteous?
And is it gain [to him] that thou makest thy ways perfect?
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- Will he reason with thee for fear of thee?
Will he enter with thee into judgment?
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- Is not thy wickedness great?
and thine iniquities without end?
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- For thou hast taken a pledge of thy brother for nought, and stripped off the clothing of the naked.
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- Thou hast not given water to the fainting to drink, and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry.
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- But the powerful man, he had the land;
and the man of high rank dwelt in it.
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- Widows hast thou sent empty away, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.
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- Therefore snares are round about thee, and sudden fear troubleth thee;
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- Or darkness, that thou canst not see, and floods of waters cover thee.
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- Is not +God in the height of the heavens?
And behold the summit of the stars: how exalted are they!
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- And thou sayest, What doth God know?
will he judge through the dark cloud?
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- Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not;
and he walketh on the vault of the heavens.
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- Dost thou mark the ancient path which wicked men have trodden?
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- Who were carried off before the time, whose foundation was overflowed with a flood;
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- Who said unto God, Depart from us!
and what could the Almighty do to them?
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- Yet he filled their houses with good.
But the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
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- The righteous see it, and are glad;
and the innocent laugh them to scorn:
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- Is not he who rose against us destroyed, and doth not the fire consume his residue?
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- Reconcile thyself now with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.
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- Receive, I pray thee, instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in thy heart.
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- If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up.
If thou remove unrighteousness far from thy tents,
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- And put the precious ore with the dust, and [the gold of] Ophir among the stones of the torrents,
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- Then the Almighty will be thy precious ore, and silver heaped up unto thee;
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- Yea, then shalt thou delight thyself in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face unto +God:
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- Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he will hear thee, and thou shalt pay thy vows;
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- And thou shalt decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee;
and light shall shine upon thy ways.
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- When they are made low, then thou shalt say, Rise up!
and he shall save him that is of downcast eyes.
- 30
- [Even] him that is not innocent shall he deliver;
yea, he shall be delivered by the pureness of thy hands.
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