Job 22

¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said, ²Can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself?³Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that thou art righteous? or is it gain to him, that thou makest thy ways perfect? ⁴Will he reprove thee for fear of thee? will he enter with thee into judgment?

⁵Is not thy wickedness great? and thine iniquities infinite? ⁶For thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought, and stripped the naked of their clothing.⁷Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink, and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry. ⁸But as for the mighty man, he had the earth; and the honourable man dwelt in it.⁹Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken. ¹⁰Therefore snares are round about thee, and sudden fear troubleth thee; ¹¹Or darkness, that thou canst not see; and abundance of waters cover thee. ¹²Is not God in the height of heaven? and behold the height of the stars, how high they are! ¹³And thou sayest, How doth God know? can he judge through the dark cloud? ¹⁴Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not; and he walketh in the circuit of heaven.

¹⁵Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden? ¹⁶Which were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood: ¹⁷Which said unto God, Depart from us: and what can the Almighty do for them? 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: and the innocent laugh them to scorn. ²⁰Whereas our substance is not cut down, but the remnant of them the fire consumeth.

²¹Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee. ²²Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart. ²³If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles. ²⁴Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust, and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks. ²⁵Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defence, and thou shalt have plenty of silver.²⁶For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face unto God. ²⁷Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he shall hear thee, and thou shalt pay thy vows. ²⁸Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways. ²⁹When men are cast down, then thou shalt say, There is lifting up; and he shall save the humble person.³⁰He shall deliver the island of the innocent: and it is delivered by the pureness of thine hands.