Job 22
1 Then Eliphaz the Thaemanite answered and said,
Then Eliphaz the Themanite answered, and said:
2 Is it not the Lord that teaches understanding and knowledge?
Can man be compared with God, even though he were of perfect knowledge?
3 For what matters it to the Lord, if you were blameless in [your] works? or is it profitable that you should perfect your way?
What doth it profit God if thou be just? or what dost thou give him if thy way be unspotted?
4 Will you maintain and plead your own cause? and will he enter into judgement with you?
Shall he reprove thee for fear, and come with thee into judgment:
5 Is not your wickedness abundant, and your sins innumerable?
And not for thy manifold wickedness, and thy infinite iniquities?
6 And you have taken security of your brethren for nothing, and have taken away the clothing of the naked.
For thou hast taken away the pledge of thy brethren without cause, and stripped the naked of their clothing.
7 Neither have you given water to the thirsty to drink, but have taken away the morsel of the hungry.
Thou hast not given water to the weary, thou hast withdrawn bread from the hungry.
8 And you have accepted the persons of some; and you have established those [that were already settled] on the earth.
In the strength of thy arm thou didst possess the land, and being the most mighty thou holdest it.
9 But you have sent widows away empty, and has afflicted orphans.
Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless thou hast broken in pieces.
10 Therefore snares have compassed you, and disastrous war has troubled you.
Therefore art thou surrounded with snares, and sudden fear troubleth thee.
11 The light has proved darkness to you, and water has covered you on your lying down.
And didst thou think that thou shouldst not see darkness, and that thou shouldst not be covered with the violence of overflowing waters?
12 Does not he that dwells in the high places observe? and has he not brought down the proud?
Dost not thou think that God is higher than heaven, and is elevated above the height of the stars?
13 And you has said, What does the Mighty One know? does he judge in the dark?
And thou sayst: What doth God know? and he judgeth as it were through a mist.
14 A cloud is his hiding-place, and he shall not be seen; and he passes through the circle 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 [not] mark the old way, which righteous men have trodden?
Dost thou desire to keep the path of ages, which wicked men have trodden?
16 who were seized before their time: their foundations [are as] an overflowing stream.
Who were taken away before their time, and a flood hath overthrown their foundation.
17 Who say, What will the Lord do to us? or what will the Almighty bring upon us?
Who said to God: Depart from us: and looked upon the Almighty as if he could do nothing:
18 Yet he filled their houses with good things: but the counsel for the wicked is far from him.
Whereas he had filled their houses with good things: whose way of thinking be far from me.
19 The righteous have seen [it], and laughed, and the blameless one has derided [them].
The just shall see, and shall rejoice, and the innocent shall laugh them to scorn.
20 Verily their substance has been utterly destroyed, and the fire shall devour what is left of their [property].
Is not their exaltation cut down, and hath not fire devoured the remnants of them?
21 Be firm, I pray you, if you can endure; then your fruit shall prosper.
Submit thyself then to him, and be at peace: and thereby thou shalt have the best fruits.
22 And receive a declaration 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 And if you shall turn and humble yourself before the Lord, you have [thus] removed unrighteousness far from your habitation.
If thou wilt return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, and shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacle.
24 You shall lay up for yourself [treasure] in a heap on the rock; and Sophir [shall be] as the rock of the torrent.
He shall give for earth flint, and for flint torrents of gold.
25 So the Almighty shall be your helper from enemies, and he shall bring you forth pure as silver that has been tried by fire.
And the Almighty shall be against thy enemies, and silver shall be heaped together for thee.
26 Then shall you have boldness before the Lord, looking up cheerfully to heaven.
Then shalt thou abound in delights in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face to God.
27 And he shall hear you when you pray to him, and he shall grant you [power] to pay your vows.
Thou shalt pray to him, and he will hear thee, and thou shalt pay vows.
28 And he shall establish to you again a habitation of righteousness and there shall be light upon your paths.
Thou shalt decree a thing, and it I shall come to thee, and light shall shine in thy ways.
29 Because you have humbled yourself; and you shall say, [Man] has behaved proudly, but he shall save him that is of lowly eyes.
For he that hath been humbled, shall be in glory: and he that shall bow down his eyes, he shall be saved.
30 He shall deliver the innocent, and do you save yourself by your pure hands.
The innocent shall be saved, and he shall be saved by the cleanness of his hands.
