Job 22
1 Then Eliphaz replied,
And Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,
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 profitable to God? surely it is unto himself that the wise man is profitable.
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?
Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if thou art righteous? And is it gain [to him] that thou makest thy ways perfect?
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?
Will he reason with thee for fear of thee? Will he enter with thee into judgment?
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 thy wickedness great? and thine iniquities without end?
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 thou hast taken a pledge of thy brother for nought, and stripped off the clothing of the naked.
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.
Thou hast not given water to the fainting to drink, and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry.
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.
But the powerful man, he had the land; and the man of high rank dwelt in 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.
Widows hast thou sent empty away, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.
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 are round about thee, and sudden fear troubleth thee;
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.
Or darkness, that thou canst not see, and floods of waters cover thee.
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 in the height of the heavens? And behold the summit of the stars: how exalted are they!
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]’
And thou sayest, What doth God know? will he judge through the dark cloud?
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 are a covering to him, that he seeth not; and he walketh on the vault of the heavens.
15 Will you continue to conduct your life the old way that evil people have done [for many years]?
Dost thou mark the ancient path which wicked men have trodden?
16 They suddenly died while they were still young; they disappeared [like everything disappears when there is] a flood [MET].
Who were carried off before the time, whose foundation was overflowed with 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!’
Who said unto God, Depart from us! and what could the Almighty do to them?
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.
Yet he filled their houses with good. But the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
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; and the innocent laugh them to scorn:
20 They say, ‘Now our enemies have been destroyed, and all [their possessions] that were left have been burned in a fire.’
Is not he who rose against us destroyed, and doth not the fire consume his residue?
21 “So, [Job, ] be reconciled to God and make peace with him; if you do that, good things will happen to you.
Reconcile thyself now with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.
22 Allow him to teach you, and keep thinking about what he has told you.
Receive, I pray thee, instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in thy 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 thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up. If thou remove unrighteousness far from thy tents,
24 if you throw away your gold, even the fine gold from the dry stream beds in Ophir [land],
And put the precious ore with the dust, and [the gold of] Ophir among the stones of the torrents,
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 thy precious ore, and silver heaped up unto thee;
26 you will be happy because of your close relationship with God, and you will be able to approach him [IDM] [confidently].
Yea, then shalt thou delight thyself in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face unto 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.
Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he will hear thee, and thou shalt pay thy 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.
And thou shalt decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee; and light shall shine upon thy ways.
29 God humbles those who are proud, but he saves those who are downcast/discouraged.
When they are made low, then thou shalt say, Rise up! and he shall save him that is of downcast eyes.
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).”
[Even] him that is not innocent shall he deliver; yea, he shall be delivered by the pureness of thy hands.
