“Can a man be useful to God? Can even a wise man benefit Him?
Who is Shaddai that we should serve Him? What would we gain if we pray to Him?’
Then Eliphaz the Temanite responded saying:
What pleasure is it to Shaddai if you are righteous? Or what gain if your ways are blameless?
“What is mankind, that You magnify him, that You set Your heart on him,
I said to Adonai: “You are my Lord— I have no good apart from You.”
If you are wise, you are wise to your own advantage, but if you scoff, you bear it alone.
And if your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away! It is better for you that one part of your body should be destroyed, than that your whole body be thrown into Gehenna.
So you too, when you’ve done everything you are commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy slaves. We have done only what we were supposed to do.’”
Nor is He served by human hands, as if He needed anything, since He Himself gives to everyone life and breath and all things.
to keep the mitzvot of Adonai and His statutes that I am commanding you today, for your own good?