Job 22
1 Forsothe Eliphat Themanytes answeride, and seide,
Then Eliphaz replied,
2 Whether a man, yhe, whanne he is of perfit kunnyng, mai be comparisound to God?
“(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.
3 What profitith it to God, if thou art iust? ethir what schalt thou yyue to hym, if thi lijf is without wem?
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?
4 Whether he schal drede, and schal repreue thee, and schal come with thee in to doom,
“Is it because you have an awesome respect for God that he punishes you? Is that the reason that he puts you on trial?
5 and not for thi ful myche malice, and thi wickidnessis with out noumbre, `these peynes bifelden iustli to thee?
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!
6 For thou hast take awei with out cause the wed of thi britheren; and hast spuylid nakid men of clothis.
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.
7 Thou yauest not watir to the feynt man; and thou withdrowist breed fro the hungri man.
You must not have given water to those who were thirsty, and you must have refused to give food to those who were hungry.
8 In the strengthe of thin arm thou haddist the lond in possessioun; and thou moost myyti heldist it.
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.
9 Thou leftist widewis voide; and al to-brakist the schuldris of fadirles children.
[When] widows [came to you for help], you [must have] sent [them] away without giving them anything, and you must have oppressed orphans.
10 Therfor thou art cumpassid with snaris; and sodeyn drede disturblith thee.
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.
11 And thou gessidist, that thou schuldist not se derknessis; and that thou schuldist not be oppressid with the fersnesse of watris flowyng.
[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.
12 Whether thou thenkist, that God is hiyere than heuene, and is enhaunsid aboue the coppe of sterris?
“[But consider this, Job]: God lives [RHQ] high up in the heavens. From there he [RHQ] looks down on the highest stars.
13 And thou seist, What sotheli knowith God? and, He demeth as bi derknesse.
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]’
14 A cloude is his hidyng place, and he biholdith not oure thingis, and he `goith aboute the herris of heuene.
[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]?
15 Whether thou coueitist to kepe the path of worldis, which wickid men han ofte go?
Will you continue to conduct your life the old way that evil people have done [for many years]?
16 Whiche weren takun awei bifor her tyme, and the flood distriede the foundement of hem.
They suddenly died while they were still young; they disappeared [like everything disappears when there is] a flood [MET].
17 Whiche seiden to God, Go thou awei fro vs; and as if Almyyti God may do no thing, thei gessiden hym,
They kept saying to God, ‘Do not bother us,’ and they also said [defiantly], ‘Almighty [God] can do nothing [RHQ] to [harm] us!’
18 whanne he hadde fillid her housis with goodis; the sentence of whiche men be fer fro me.
But it was God who filled their houses with good things, so I cannot at all understand why wicked people think like they do.
19 Iust men schulen se, and schulen be glad; and an innocent man schal scorne hem.
“But when God punishes wicked people, and righteous people see that, they are glad, and they laugh, ridiculing the wicked people.
20 Whether the reisyng of hem is not kit doun, and fier schal deuoure the relifs of hem?
They say, ‘Now our enemies have been destroyed, and all [their possessions] that were left have been burned in a fire.’
21 Therfor assente thou to God, and haue thou pees; and bi these thingis thou schalt haue best fruytis.
“So, [Job, ] be reconciled to God and make peace with him; if you do that, good things will happen to you.
22 Take thou the lawe of his mouth, and sette thou hise wordis in thin herte.
Allow him to teach you, and keep thinking about what he has told you.
23 If thou turnest ayen to Almyyti God, thou schalt be bildid; and thou schalt make wickidnesse fer fro thi tabernacle.
If you humble yourself and return to God, if you stop doing all the evil things that you have been doing in your house,
24 He schal yyue a flynt for erthe, and goldun strondis for a flynt.
if you throw away your gold, even the fine gold from the dry stream beds in Ophir [land],
25 And Almyyti God schal be ayens thin enemyes; and siluer schal be gaderid togidere to thee.
and if you allow Almighty [God] to be [as precious to you as] your gold and your silver [have been],
26 Thanne on Almyyti God thou schalt flowe with delicis; and thou schalt reise thi face to God.
you will be happy because of your close relationship with God, and you will be able to approach him [IDM] [confidently].
27 Thou schalt preye hym, and he schal here thee; and thou schalt yelde thi vowis.
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.
28 Thou schalt deme a thing, and it schal come to thee; and lyyt schal schyne in thi weies.
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.
29 For he that is mekid, schal be in glorie; and he that bowith doun hise iyen, schal be saued.
God humbles those who are proud, but he saves those who are downcast/discouraged.
30 An innocent schal be saued; sotheli he schal be saued in the clennesse of hise hondis.
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).”
