Job 22
1 Then Eliphaz replied,
| ויען אליפז התמני ויאמר |
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.
| הלאל יסכן-גבר-- כי-יסכן עלימו משכיל |
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?
| החפץ לשדי כי תצדק ואם-בצע כי-תתם דרכיך |
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?
| המיראתך יכיחך יבוא עמך במשפט |
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!
| הלא רעתך רבה ואין-קץ לעונתיך |
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.
| כי-תחבל אחיך חנם ובגדי ערומים תפשיט |
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.
| לא-מים עיף תשקה ומרעב תמנע-לחם |
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.
| ואיש זרוע לו הארץ ונשוא פנים ישב בה |
9 [When] widows [came to you for help], you [must have] sent [them] away without giving them anything, and you must have oppressed orphans.
| אלמנות שלחת ריקם וזרעות יתמים ידכא |
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.
| על-כן סביבותיך פחים ויבהלך פחד פתאם |
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.
| או-חשך לא-תראה ושפעת-מים תכסך |
12 “[But consider this, Job]: God lives [RHQ] high up in the heavens. From there he [RHQ] looks down on the highest stars.
| הלא-אלוה גבה שמים וראה ראש כוכבים כי-רמו |
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]’
| ואמרת מה-ידע אל הבעד ערפל ישפוט |
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]?
| עבים סתר-לו ולא יראה וחוג שמים יתהלך |
15 Will you continue to conduct your life the old way that evil people have done [for many years]?
| הארח עולם תשמור-- אשר דרכו מתי-און |
16 They suddenly died while they were still young; they disappeared [like everything disappears when there is] a flood [MET].
| אשר-קמטו ולא-עת נהר יוצק יסודם |
17 They kept saying to God, ‘Do not bother us,’ and they also said [defiantly], ‘Almighty [God] can do nothing [RHQ] to [harm] us!’
| האמרים לאל סור ממנו ומה-יפעל שדי למו |
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.
| והוא מלא בתיהם טוב ועצת רשעים רחקה מני |
19 “But when God punishes wicked people, and righteous people see that, they are glad, and they laugh, ridiculing the wicked people.
| יראו צדיקים וישמחו ונקי ילעג-למו |
20 They say, ‘Now our enemies have been destroyed, and all [their possessions] that were left have been burned in a fire.’
| אם-לא נכחד קימנו ויתרם אכלה אש |
21 “So, [Job, ] be reconciled to God and make peace with him; if you do that, good things will happen to you.
| הסכן-נא עמו ושלם בהם תבואתך טובה |
22 Allow him to teach you, and keep thinking about what he has told you.
| קח-נא מפיו תורה ושים אמריו בלבבך |
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,
| אם-תשוב עד-שדי תבנה תרחיק עולה מאהלך |
24 if you throw away your gold, even the fine gold from the dry stream beds in Ophir [land],
| ושית-על-עפר בצר ובצור נחלים אופיר |
25 and if you allow Almighty [God] to be [as precious to you as] your gold and your silver [have been],
| והיה שדי בצריך וכסף תועפות לך |
26 you will be happy because of your close relationship with God, and you will be able to approach him [IDM] [confidently].
| כי-אז על-שדי תתענג ותשא אל-אלוה פניך |
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.
| תעתיר אליו וישמעך ונדריך תשלם |
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.
| ותגזר-אמר ויקם לך ועל-דרכיך נגה אור |
29 God humbles those who are proud, but he saves those who are downcast/discouraged.
| כי-השפילו ותאמר גוה ושח עינים יושע |
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).”
| ימלט אי-נקי ונמלט בבר כפיך |
