Job 22–24

Chapter 22

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

⁵Is not thy wickedness great? and thine iniquities without end? ⁶For thou hast taken a pledge of thy brother for nought, and stripped off the clothing of the naked. ⁷Thou hast not given water to the fainting to drink, and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry. ⁸But the powerful man, he had the land; and the man of high rank dwelt in it. ⁹Widows hast thou sent empty away, 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 floods of waters cover thee. ¹²Is not †God in the height of the heavens? And behold the summit of the stars: how exalted are they! ¹³And thou sayest, What doth •God know? will he judge through the dark cloud? ¹⁴Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not; and he walketh on the vault of the heavens.

¹⁵Dost thou mark the ancient path which wicked men have trodden? ¹⁶Who were carried off before the time, whose foundation was overflowed with a flood; ¹⁷Who said unto •God, Depart from us! and what could the Almighty do to them? ¹⁸Yet he filled their houses with good. But the counsel of the wicked is far from me. ¹⁹The righteous see it, and are glad; and the innocent laugh them to scorn: ²⁰Is not he who rose against us destroyed, and doth not the fire consume his residue?

²¹Reconcile thyself now with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee. ²²Receive, I pray thee, instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in thy heart. ²³If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up. If thou remove unrighteousness far from thy tents, ²⁴And put the precious ore with the dust, and the gold of Ophir among the stones of the torrents, ²⁵Then the Almighty will be thy precious ore, and silver heaped up unto thee; ²⁶Yea, then shalt thou delight thyself in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face unto †God: ²⁷Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he will hear thee, and thou shalt pay thy vows; ²⁸And thou shalt decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee; and light shall shine upon thy ways. ²⁹When they are made low, then thou shalt say, Rise up! and he shall save him that is of downcast eyes. ³⁰Even him that is not innocent shall he deliver; yea, he shall be delivered by the pureness of thy hands.

Chapter 23

¹And Job answered and said, ²Even to-day is my complaint bitter: my stroke is heavier than my groaning. ³Oh that I knew where I might find him, that I might come to his seat! ⁴I would order the cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments; ⁵I would know the words he would answer me, and understand what he would say unto me. ⁶Would he plead against me with his great power? Nay; but he would give heed unto me. ⁷There would an upright man reason with him; and I should be delivered for ever from my judge.

⁸Lo, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I do not perceive him; ⁹On the left hand, where he doth work, but I behold him not; he hideth himself on the right hand, and I see him not. ¹⁰But he knoweth the way that I take; he trieth me, I shall come forth as gold. ¹¹My foot hath held to his steps; his way have I kept, and not turned aside. ¹²Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have laid up the words of his mouth more than the purpose of my own heart.

¹³But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? And what his soul desireth, that will he do. ¹⁴For he will perform what is appointed for me; and many such things are with him. ¹⁵Therefore am I troubled at his presence; I consider, and I am afraid of him. ¹⁶For •God hath made my heart soft, and the Almighty troubleth me; ¹⁷Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither hath he hidden the gloom from me.

Chapter 24

¹Why are not times treasured up with the Almighty? why do not they that know him see his days? ²They remove the landmarks; they violently take away the flocks and pasture them; ³They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow’s ox for a pledge; ⁴They turn the needy out of the way: the afflicted of the land all hide themselves. ⁵Lo, as wild asses in the desert, they go forth to their work, seeking early for the prey: the wilderness yieldeth them food for their children. ⁶They reap in the field the fodder thereof, and they gather the vintage of the wicked; ⁷They pass the night naked without clothing, and have no covering in the cold; ⁸They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and for want of a shelter embrace the rock… ⁹They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor: ¹⁰These go naked without clothing, and, hungry, they bear the sheaf; ¹¹They press out oil within their walls, they tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst. ¹²Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out; and †God imputeth not the impiety.

¹³There are those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof. ¹⁴The murderer riseth with the light, killeth the afflicted and needy, and in the night is as a thief. ¹⁵And the eye of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me; and he putteth a covering on his face. ¹⁶In the dark they dig through houses; by day they shut themselves in; they know not the light: ¹⁷For the morning is to them all as the shadow of death; for they are familiar with the terrors of the shadow of death.

¹⁸He is swift on the face of the waters; their portion is cursed on the earth: he turneth not unto the way of the vineyards. ¹⁹Drought and heat consume snow waters; so doth Sheol those that have sinned. ²⁰The womb forgetteth him; the worm feedeth sweetly on him: he shall be no more remembered; and unrighteousness is broken as a tree, — ²¹He that despoileth the barren that beareth not, and doeth not good to the widow: ²²He draweth also the mighty with his power; he riseth up, and no man is sure of life. ²³God setteth him in safety, and he resteth thereon; but his eyes are upon their ways. ²⁴They are exalted for a little, and are no more; they are laid low; like all other are they gathered, and are cut off as the tops of the ears of corn. ²⁵If it be not so now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth?