Job 22
1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:
Then Eliphaz the Themanite answered, and said:
2 “Can a man be of use to God? Can even a wise man benefit Him?
Can man be compared with God, even though he were of perfect knowledge?
3 Does it delight the Almighty that you are righteous? Does He profit if your ways are blameless?
What doth it profit God if thou be just? or what dost thou give him if thy way be unspotted?
4 Is it for your reverence that He rebukes you and enters into judgment against you?
Shall he reprove thee for fear, and come with thee into judgment:
5 Is not your wickedness great? Are not your iniquities endless?
And not for thy manifold wickedness, and thy infinite iniquities?
6 For you needlessly demanded security from your brothers and deprived the naked of their clothing.
For thou hast taken away the pledge of thy brethren without cause, and stripped the naked of their clothing.
7 You gave no water to the weary and withheld food from the famished,
Thou hast not given water to the weary, thou hast withdrawn bread from the hungry.
8 while the land belonged to a mighty man, and a man of honor lived on it.
In the strength of thy arm thou didst possess the land, and being the most mighty thou holdest it.
9 You sent widows away empty-handed, and the strength of the fatherless was crushed.
Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless thou hast broken in pieces.
10 Therefore snares surround you, and sudden peril terrifies you;
Therefore art thou surrounded with snares, and sudden fear troubleth thee.
11 it is so dark you cannot see, and a flood of water covers you.
And didst thou think that thou shouldst not see darkness, and that thou shouldst not be covered with the violence of overflowing waters?
12 Is not God as high as the heavens? Look at the highest stars, how lofty they are!
Dost not thou think that God is higher than heaven, and is elevated above the height of the stars?
13 Yet you say: ‘What does God know? Does He judge through thick darkness?
And thou sayst: What doth God know? and he judgeth as it were through a mist.
14 Thick clouds veil Him so He does not see us as He traverses the vault of heaven.’
The clouds are his covert, and he doth not consider our things, and he walketh about the poles of heaven.
15 Will you stay on the ancient path that wicked men have trod?
Dost thou desire to keep the path of ages, which wicked men have trodden?
16 They were snatched away before their time, and their foundations were swept away by a flood.
Who were taken away before their time, and a flood hath overthrown their foundation.
17 They said to God, ‘Depart from us. What can the Almighty do to us?’
Who said to God: Depart from us: and looked upon the Almighty as if he could do nothing:
18 But it was He who filled their houses with good things; so I stay far from the counsel of the wicked.
Whereas he had filled their houses with good things: whose way of thinking be far from me.
19 The righteous see it and are glad; the innocent mock them:
The just shall see, and shall rejoice, and the innocent shall laugh them to scorn.
20 ‘Surely our foes are destroyed, and fire has consumed their excess.’
Is not their exaltation cut down, and hath not fire devoured the remnants of them?
21 Reconcile now and be at peace with Him; thereby good will come to you.
Submit thyself then to him, and be at peace: and thereby thou shalt have the best fruits.
22 Receive instruction from His mouth, and lay up His words in your heart.
Receive the law of his mouth, and lay up his words in thy heart.
23 If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored. If you remove injustice from your tents
If thou wilt return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, and shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacle.
24 and consign your gold to the dust and the gold of Ophir to the stones of the ravines,
He shall give for earth flint, and for flint torrents of gold.
25 then the Almighty will be your gold and the finest silver for you.
And the Almighty shall be against thy enemies, and silver shall be heaped together for thee.
26 Surely then you will delight in the Almighty and lift up your face to God.
Then shalt thou abound in delights in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face to God.
27 You will pray to Him, and He will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows.
Thou shalt pray to him, and he will hear thee, and thou shalt pay vows.
28 Your decisions will be carried out, and light will shine on your ways.
Thou shalt decree a thing, and it I shall come to thee, and light shall shine in thy ways.
29 When men are brought low and you say, ‘Lift them up!’ then He will save the lowly.
For he that hath been humbled, shall be in glory: and he that shall bow down his eyes, he shall be saved.
30 He will deliver even one who is not innocent, rescuing him through the cleanness of your hands.”
The innocent shall be saved, and he shall be saved by the cleanness of his hands.
