Job 22

1 Then Eliphaz replied,

Then Eliphaz the Themanite 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 man be compared with God, even though he were of perfect knowledge?

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?

What doth it profit God if thou be just? or what dost thou give him if thy way be unspotted?

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?

Shall he reprove thee for fear, and come 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!

And not for thy manifold wickedness, and thy infinite iniquities?

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 away the pledge of thy brethren without cause, and stripped 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.

Thou hast not given water to the weary, thou hast withdrawn bread from the hungry.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.

In the strength of thy arm thou didst possess the land, and being the most mighty thou holdest 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.

Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless thou hast broken in pieces.

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 art thou surrounded with snares, 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.

And didst thou think that thou shouldst not see darkness, and that thou shouldst not be covered with the violence of overflowing waters?

12 “[But consider this, Job]: God lives [RHQ] high up in the heavens. From there he [RHQ] looks down on the highest stars.

Dost not thou think that God is higher than heaven, and is elevated above the height of the stars?

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 sayst: What doth God know? and he judgeth as it were through a mist.

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]?

The clouds are his covert, and he doth not consider our things, and he walketh about the poles of heaven.

15 Will you continue to conduct your life the old way that evil people have done [for many years]?

Dost thou desire to keep the path of ages, 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 taken away before their time, and a flood hath overthrown their foundation.

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 to God: Depart from us: and looked upon the Almighty as if he could do nothing:

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.

Whereas he had filled their houses with good things: whose way of thinking be 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 just shall see, and shall rejoice, and the innocent shall 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 their exaltation cut down, and hath not fire devoured the remnants of them?

21 “So, [Job, ] be reconciled to God and make peace with him; if you do that, good things will happen to you.

Submit thyself then to him, and be at peace: and thereby thou shalt have the best fruits.

22 Allow him to teach you, and keep thinking about what he has told you.

Receive the law of 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 wilt return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, and shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacle.

24 if you throw away your gold, even the fine gold from the dry stream beds in Ophir [land],

He shall give for earth flint, and for flint torrents of gold.

25 and if you allow Almighty [God] to be [as precious to you as] your gold and your silver [have been],

And the Almighty shall be against thy enemies, and silver shall be heaped together for thee.

26 you will be happy because of your close relationship with God, and you will be able to approach him [IDM] [confidently].

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 do what you request him to do; you will do the things that you promised him that you would do.

Thou shalt pray to him, and he will hear thee, and thou shalt pay 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.

Thou shalt decree a thing, and it I shall come to thee, and light shall shine in thy ways.

29 God humbles those who are proud, but he saves those who are downcast/discouraged.

For he that hath been humbled, shall be in glory: and he that shall bow down his eyes, he shall be saved.

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).”

The innocent shall be saved, and he shall be saved by the cleanness of his hands.