Job 22
1 Then Eliphaz replied,
Then 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 useful to God? Can a wise man be useful to 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?
Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are righteous? Is it gain to him if you make your ways 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 because of your reverence for him that he rebukes you and takes you to 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 your wickedness great? Is there no end to your 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 you have demanded guarantee of a loan from your brother for no reason, and you have stripped away clothing from 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.
You have not given water to weary people to drink; you have withheld bread from hungry people
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.
although you, a mighty man, possessed the earth, although you, an honored man, lived 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.
You have sent widows away empty; 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 all around you, and sudden fear troubles 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.
There is darkness, so that you cannot see; an abundance of waters 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 in the heights of heaven? Look at the height of the stars, how high 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]’
You say, 'What does God know? Can he judge through the 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 are a covering to him, so that he does not see us; he walks on 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 keep the old way that wicked men have walked—
16 They suddenly died while they were still young; they disappeared [like everything disappears when there is] a flood [MET].
those who were snatched away before their time, those whose foundations have washed away like a river,
17 They kept saying to God, ‘Do not bother us,’ and they also said [defiantly], ‘Almighty [God] can do nothing [RHQ] to [harm] us!’
those who said to God, 'Depart from us'; those who said, '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.
Yet he filled their houses with good things; the plans of wicked people are 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.
Righteous people see their fate and are glad; innocent people 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.’
They say, 'Surely those who rose up against us are cut off; fire has consumed their possessions.'
21 “So, [Job, ] be reconciled to God and make peace with him; if you do that, good things will happen to you.
Now agree with God and be at peace with him; in that way, good will come to you.
22 Allow him to teach you, and keep thinking about what he has told you.
Receive, I beg you, instruction from his mouth; store 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 built up, if you put unrighteousness far away from your tents.
24 if you throw away your gold, even the fine gold from the dry stream beds in Ophir [land],
Lay your treasure down in the dust, the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks,
25 and if you allow Almighty [God] to be [as precious to you as] your gold and your silver [have been],
and the Almighty will be your treasure, precious silver to you.
26 you will be happy because of your close relationship with God, and you will be able to approach him [IDM] [confidently].
For then you will take pleasure in the Almighty; you will 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 make your prayer to him, and he will hear you; you will pay your vows to him.
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.
You will also decree anything, and it will be confirmed for you; light will shine on your paths.
29 God humbles those who are proud, but he saves those who are downcast/discouraged.
God humbles a proud man, and he saves the one with lowered 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).”
He will rescue even the man who is not innocent; who will be rescued through the cleanness of your hands.”
