Job 22
1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered,
Then Eliphaz the Themanite answered, and said:
2 "Can a man be profitable to God? Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself.
Can man be compared with God, even though he were of perfect knowledge?
3 Is it any pleasure to Shaddai, that you are righteous? Or does it benefit him, that you make your ways perfect?
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 piety that he reproves you, that he enters with you into judgment?
Shall he reprove thee for fear, and come with thee into judgment:
5 Isn't your wickedness great? Neither is there any end to your iniquities.
And not for thy manifold wickedness, and thy infinite iniquities?
6 For you have taken pledges from your brother for nothing, and stripped 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 haven't given water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry.
Thou hast not given water to the weary, thou hast withdrawn bread from the hungry.
8 But as for the mighty man, he had the earth. The honorable man, he lived in it.
In the strength of thy arm thou didst possess the land, and being the most mighty thou holdest it.
9 You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.
Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless thou hast broken in pieces.
10 Therefore snares are around you. Sudden fear troubles you,
Therefore art thou surrounded with snares, and sudden fear troubleth thee.
11 or darkness, so that you can not see, and floods of waters cover 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 "Isn't God in the heights of heaven? See the height of the stars, how high they are.
Dost not thou think that God is higher than heaven, and is elevated above the height of the stars?
13 You say, 'What does God know? Can he judge through the thick darkness?
And thou sayst: What doth God know? and he judgeth as it were through a mist.
14 Thick clouds are a covering to him, so that he doesn't see. He walks on the vault of the sky.'
The clouds are his covert, and he doth not consider our things, and he walketh about the poles of heaven.
15 Will you keep the old way, which wicked men have trodden,
Dost thou desire to keep the path of ages, which wicked men have trodden?
16 who were snatched away before their time, whose foundation was poured out as a stream,
Who were taken away before their time, and a flood hath overthrown their foundation.
17 who said to God, 'Depart from us;' and, 'What can Shaddai do for 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 of the wicked is far from me.
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 ridicule them,
The just shall see, and shall rejoice, and the innocent shall laugh them to scorn.
20 saying, 'Surely those who rose up against us are cut off. The fire has consumed the remnant of them.'
Is not their exaltation cut down, and hath not fire devoured the remnants of them?
21 "Acquaint yourself with him, now, and be at peace. Thereby good shall come to you.
Submit thyself then to him, and be at peace: and thereby thou shalt have the best fruits.
22 Please 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 Shaddai, you shall be built up, if you put away unrighteousness far 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 Lay your treasure in the dust, the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks.
He shall give for earth flint, and for flint torrents of gold.
25 Shaddai will be your treasure, and precious silver to you.
And the Almighty shall be against thy enemies, and silver shall be heaped together for thee.
26 For then you will delight yourself in Shaddai, and shall 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 shall make your prayer to him, and he will hear you. You shall pay your vows.
Thou shalt pray to him, and he will hear thee, and thou shalt pay vows.
28 And you will also decree a thing, and it will be established for you, 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 they cast down, you shall say, 'be lifted up.' And he will save the humble.
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 even deliver him who is not innocent. Yes, he shall be delivered through the cleanness of your hands."
The innocent shall be saved, and he shall be saved by the cleanness of his hands.
