Job 22
1 Then Eliphaz replied,
Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered,
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 he who is wise is profitable to himself.
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 that you are righteous? Or does it benefit him that you make your 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?
Is it for your piety that he reproves you, that he enters with you into judgement?
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!
Isn’t your wickedness great? Neither is there any 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 taken pledges from your brother for nothing, 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.
You haven’t given water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld 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 as for the mighty man, he had the earth. The honourable man, he 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, 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 around you. 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.
or darkness, so that you can not see, and floods of waters cover you.
12 “[But consider this, Job]: God lives [RHQ] high up in the heavens. From there he [RHQ] looks down on the highest stars.
“Isn’t God in the heights of heaven? See 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 doesn’t see. He walks on the vault of the sky.’
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, 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 snatched away before their time, whose foundation was poured out as a stream,
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, ‘What can the Almighty do for 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, 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. The innocent ridicule them,
20 They say, ‘Now our enemies have been destroyed, and all [their possessions] that were left have been burned in a fire.’
saying, ‘Surely those who rose up against us are cut off. The fire has consumed their remnant.’
21 “So, [Job, ] be reconciled to God and make peace with him; if you do that, good things will happen to you.
“Acquaint yourself with him now, and be at peace. By it, good will come to you.
22 Allow him to teach you, and keep thinking about what he has told you.
Please 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 built up, if you put away unrighteousness far 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 in the dust, the gold of Ophir amongst 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],
The Almighty will be your treasure, and 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 delight yourself in the Almighty, and 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.
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 a thing, and it will be established to you. Light will shine on your ways.
29 God humbles those who are proud, but he saves those who are downcast/discouraged.
When they cast down, you will say, ‘be lifted up.’ He will save the humble person.
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 even deliver him who is not innocent. Yes, he will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.”
