Job 22
1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite responded and said,
Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered,
2 “How can anyone be of help to God? Even wise people are only helpful to themselves.
“Can a man be profitable to God? Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself.
3 Is it any benefit to the Almighty if you're a good person? What does he gain if you do what's right?
Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that you are righteous? Or does it benefit him that you make your ways perfect?
4 Does he correct you and bring charges against you because of your reverence?
Is it for your piety that he reproves you, that he enters with you into judgment?
5 No: it's because you're so wicked! Your sins are never-ending!
Isn’t your wickedness great? Neither is there any end to your iniquities.
6 For no reason at all you took your brother's clothing as a security for a debt, and left them stripped naked.
For you have taken pledges from your brother for nothing, and stripped the naked of their clothing.
7 You refused water to the thirsty; you denied food to the hungry.
You haven’t given water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry.
8 Is it because the land belongs to the powerful, and only the privileged have a right to live there?
But as for the mighty man, he had the earth. The honorable man, he lived in it.
9 You have sent widows away empty-handed; you have crushed the outstretched arms of orphans, begging for help.
You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.
10 That's why you're surrounded by traps to catch you, and why you suddenly panic in terror.
Therefore snares are around you. Sudden fear troubles you,
11 That's why it's so dark you cannot see, and why you feel like you're drowning.
or darkness, so that you can not see, and floods of waters cover you.
12 Doesn't God live in highest heaven and looks down on even the highest stars?
“Isn’t God in the heights of heaven? See the height of the stars, how high they are!
13 But you ask, ‘What does God know? How can he see and judge what happens in down here in darkness?
You say, ‘What does God know? Can he judge through the thick darkness?
14 Thick clouds cover him so he can't see anything as he walks around in heaven.’
Thick clouds are a covering to him, so that he doesn’t see. He walks on the vault of the sky.’
15 Why do you insist on following the traditional thinking of the wicked?
Will you keep the old way, which wicked men have trodden,
16 They were taken before their time; all they had built was washed away.
who were snatched away before their time, whose foundation was poured out as a stream,
17 They had told God, ‘Get lost! What can the Almighty do to us?’
who said to God, ‘Depart from us!’ and, ‘What can the Almighty do for us?’
18 And yet he was the one who had filled their homes with good things—but I don't accept their way of thinking.
Yet he filled their houses with good things, but the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
19 Those who do right rejoice when they see the destruction of the wicked, and the innocent mock them,
The righteous see it, and are glad. The innocent ridicule them,
20 saying, ‘Our enemies are destroyed, and fire has burned up all that's left of them.’
saying, ‘Surely those who rose up against us are cut off. The fire has consumed their remnant.’
21 Come back to God and be reconciled to him, and you'll be prosperous again.
“Acquaint yourself with him now, and be at peace. By it, good will come to you.
22 Listen to what he tells you and keep his words in mind.
Please receive instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in your heart.
23 If you return to God you will be restored. If you renounce your sinful life
If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up, if you put away unrighteousness far from your tents.
24 and give up your love of money and desire for possessions,
Lay your treasure in the dust, the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks.
25 then the Almighty will be your gold and your precious silver.
The Almighty will be your treasure, and precious silver to you.
26 Then you will find delight in the Almighty, and be able to face him without feeling ashamed.
For then you will delight yourself 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 keep your promises to him.
You will make your prayer to him, and he will hear you. You will pay your vows.
28 Whatever you decide to do will be successful, and wherever you go, light will shine on you.
You will also decree a thing, and it will be established to you. Light will shine on your ways.
29 When others are humbled, and you say, ‘please help them,’ God will save them.
When they cast down, you will say, ‘be lifted up.’ He will save the humble person.
30 God saves those who are innocent, and you will be saved if you do what is right.”
He will even deliver him who is not innocent. Yes, he will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.”
