1. Then Eliphaz from Teman answered:
2. “Does God need our help? Even the wisest of us is not really useful to him.
3. Does your living right benefit him? Does God All-Powerful gain anything if you follow him?
4. Why does God blame and punish you? Is it because you worship him?
5. No, it is because you sin so much. You never stop sinning.
6. Maybe to guarantee loans you took things from people for no reason. Maybe you took a poor man’s clothes to make sure he paid you back.
7. Maybe you failed to give water or food to people who were tired or hungry.
8. You have a lot of farmland, and people respect you.
9. But maybe you sent widows away without giving them anything. And maybe you took advantage of orphans.
10. That is why traps are all around you, and sudden trouble makes you afraid.