Job 22

¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said :

²Can a man be profitable to God ? Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself.

³Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are in the right , or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless ?

⁴Is it for your fear of him that he reproves you and enters into judgment with you?

⁵Is not your evil abundant ? There is no end to your iniquities .

⁶For you have exacted pledges of your brothers for nothing and stripped the naked of their clothing .

⁷You have given no water to the weary to drink , and you have withheld bread from the hungry .

⁸The man with power possessed the land , and the favored man lived in it.

⁹You have sent widows away empty , and the arms of the fatherless were crushed .

¹⁰Therefore snares are all around you, and sudden terror overwhelms you,

¹¹or darkness , so that you cannot see , and a flood of water covers you.

¹²Is not God high in the heavens ? See the highest stars , how lofty they are!

¹³But you say , What does God know ? Can he judge through the deep darkness ?

¹⁴Thick clouds veil him, so that he does not see , and he walks on the vault of heaven .

¹⁵Will you keep to the old way that wicked men have trod ?

¹⁶They were snatched away before their time ; their foundation was washed away .

¹⁷They said to God , Depart from us, and What can the Almighty do to us?

¹⁸Yet he filled their houses with good things — but the counsel of the wicked is far from me.

¹⁹The righteous see it and are glad ; the innocent one mocks at them,

²⁰saying, Surely our adversaries are cut off , and what they left the fire has consumed .

²¹Agree with God, and be at peace ; thereby good will come to you.

²²Receive instruction from his mouth , and lay up his words in your heart .

²³If you return to the Almighty you will be built up ; if you remove injustice far from your tents ,

²⁴if you lay gold in the dust , and gold of Ophir among the stones of the torrent-bed ,

²⁵then the Almighty will be your gold and your precious silver .

²⁶For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty and lift up your face to God .

²⁷You will make your prayer to him, and he will hear you, and you will pay your vows .

²⁸You will decide on a matter , and it will be established for you, and light will shine on your ways .

²⁹For when they are humbled you say , It is because of pride ; but he saves the lowly .

³⁰He delivers even the one who is not innocent , who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands .