Job 22
1 Then Eliphaz replied,
Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:
2 “(Can anyone be useful to God?/Certainly no one can be useful to God.) [RHQ] Even people who are wise cannot be helpful to God.
“Can a man be of use to God? Can even a wise man benefit Him?
3 If you were righteous, (would that benefit Almighty [God]?/that certainly would not benefit Almighty [God].) [RHQ] If you had (lived a perfect life/never done anything that is wrong), would that help him?
Does it delight the Almighty that you are righteous? Does He profit if your ways are blameless?
4 “Is it because you have an awesome respect for God that he punishes you? Is that the reason that he puts you on trial?
Is it for your reverence that He rebukes you and enters into judgment against you?
5 No, it certainly must be [RHQ] because you are extremely wicked. It must be that the evil things that you have done are so many that no one can count them!
Is not your wickedness great? Are not your iniquities endless?
6 You must have lent money to others and wrongly forced them to give you things to guarantee that they would pay that money back to you; you must have taken all their clothes and left them with nothing to wear.
For you needlessly demanded security from your brothers and deprived the naked of their clothing.
7 You must not have given water to those who were thirsty, and you must have refused to give food to those who were hungry.
You gave no water to the weary and withheld food from the famished,
8 Because you were very powerful, you [must have] taken over all the people’s land, and then, being very respected, you have begun to live on that land.
while the land belonged to a mighty man, and a man of honor lived on it.
9 [When] widows [came to you for help], you [must have] sent [them] away without giving them anything, and you must have oppressed orphans.
You sent widows away empty-handed, and the strength of the fatherless was crushed.
10 Because of all that, now there are pits around you for you to fall into, and suddenly there are things that terrify you and cause you to tremble.
Therefore snares surround you, and sudden peril terrifies you;
11 [It is as though] it has become very dark, with the result that you cannot see anything, and [it is as though] [MET] a flood covers you.
it is so dark you cannot see, and a flood of water covers you.
12 “[But consider this, Job]: God lives [RHQ] high up in the heavens. From there he [RHQ] looks down on the highest stars.
Is not God as high as the heavens? Look at the highest stars, how lofty they are!
13 So why do you say, ‘What does God know [about what we are doing]? [He is hidden from us by] dark clouds, so ([how] can he judge us?/he certainly cannot judge us.) [RHQ]’
Yet you say: ‘What does God know? Does He judge through thick darkness?
14 [Do you think that] while he walks on the dome that covers the sky, there are thick clouds around him, with the result that he cannot see [what we do]?
Thick clouds veil Him so He does not see us as He traverses the vault of heaven.’
15 Will you continue to conduct your life the old way that evil people have done [for many years]?
Will you stay on the ancient path that wicked men have trod?
16 They suddenly died while they were still young; they disappeared [like everything disappears when there is] a flood [MET].
They were snatched away before their time, and their foundations were swept away by a flood.
17 They kept saying to God, ‘Do not bother us,’ and they also said [defiantly], ‘Almighty [God] can do nothing [RHQ] to [harm] us!’
They said to God, ‘Depart from us. What can the Almighty do to us?’
18 But it was God who filled their houses with good things, so I cannot at all understand why wicked people think like they do.
But it was He who filled their houses with good things; so I stay far from the counsel of the wicked.
19 “But when God punishes wicked people, and righteous people see that, they are glad, and they laugh, ridiculing the wicked people.
The righteous see it and are glad; the innocent mock them:
20 They say, ‘Now our enemies have been destroyed, and all [their possessions] that were left have been burned in a fire.’
‘Surely our foes are destroyed, and fire has consumed their excess.’
21 “So, [Job, ] be reconciled to God and make peace with him; if you do that, good things will happen to you.
Reconcile now and be at peace with Him; thereby good will come to you.
22 Allow him to teach you, and keep thinking about what he has told you.
Receive instruction from His mouth, and lay up His words in your heart.
23 If you humble yourself and return to God, if you stop doing all the evil things that you have been doing in your house,
If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored. If you remove injustice from your tents
24 if you throw away your gold, even the fine gold from the dry stream beds in Ophir [land],
and consign your gold to the dust and the gold of Ophir to the stones of the ravines,
25 and if you allow Almighty [God] to be [as precious to you as] your gold and your silver [have been],
then the Almighty will be your gold and the finest silver for you.
26 you will be happy because of your close relationship with God, and you will be able to approach him [IDM] [confidently].
Surely then you will delight in the Almighty and lift up your face to God.
27 You will pray to him, and he will do what you request him to do; you will do the things that you promised him that you would do.
You will pray to Him, and He will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows.
28 Everything that you decide to do will be successful; [it] will [be as though] a light [is] shining on the road in front of you.
Your decisions will be carried out, and light will shine on your ways.
29 God humbles those who are proud, but he saves those who are downcast/discouraged.
When men are brought low and you say, ‘Lift them up!’ then He will save the lowly.
30 God rescues those who (are innocent/have not done things that are wrong), so he will rescue you if you (start doing things that are right/are not guilty [IDM] of doing things that are wrong).”
He will deliver even one who is not innocent, rescuing him through the cleanness of your hands.”
