Job 22

Third Series of Speeches

Eliphaz Speaks

¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:

²Can a man be of any use to God?

Can even a wise man be of use to him?

³Does it delight the Almighty if you are righteous?

Does he profit if you perfect your behavior? ^a

⁴Does he correct you and take you to court

because of your piety? ^b

⁵Isn’t your wickedness abundant

and aren’t your iniquities endless?

⁶For you took collateral ^c from your brothers without cause,

stripping off their clothes and leaving them naked.

⁷You gave no water to the thirsty

and withheld food from the famished, ^d

⁸while the land belonged to a powerful man

and an influential man lived on it.

⁹You sent widows away empty-handed,

and the strength of the fatherless ^e was ^f crushed.

¹⁰Therefore snares surround you,

and sudden dread terrifies ^g you,

¹¹or darkness, so you cannot see,

and a flood of water covers you. ^h

¹²Isn’t God as high as the heavens?

And look at the highest stars #— #how lofty they are!

¹³Yet you say, “What does God know?

Can he judge through total darkness? ⁱ

¹⁴Clouds ^j veil him so that he cannot see,

as he walks on the circle of the sky.”

¹⁵Will you continue on the ancient path

that wicked men have walked?

¹⁶They were snatched away before their time,

and their foundations ^k were washed away by a river.

¹⁷They were the ones who said to God, “Leave us alone! ”

and “What can the Almighty do to us? ” ^l,^m

¹⁸But it was he who filled their houses with good things.

The counsel of the wicked is far from me!

¹⁹The righteous see this and rejoice;

the innocent mock them, saying, ⁿ

²⁰“Surely our opponents are destroyed,

and fire has consumed what they left behind.” ^o

²¹Come to terms with God and be at peace; ^p

in this way ^q good will come to you.

²²Receive instruction from his mouth, ^r

and place his sayings ^s in your heart.

²³If you return ^t to the Almighty, you will be renewed.

If you banish injustice from your tent

²⁴and consign your gold to the dust,

the gold of Ophir ^u to the stones in the wadis,

²⁵the Almighty will be your gold

and your finest silver.

²⁶Then you will delight ^v in the Almighty

and lift up your face to God. ^w

²⁷You will pray to him, and he will hear you, ^x

and you will fulfill your vows.

²⁸When you make a decision, it will be carried out, ^y

and light will shine on your ways. ^z

²⁹When others are humiliated and you say, “Lift them up,”

God will save the humble. ^aa,^ab

³⁰He will even rescue the guilty one,

who will be rescued by the purity of your hands. ^ac