Job 22

Third Series of Speeches

Eliphaz Speaks

22Then 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? ^t

⁴Does He correct you and take you to court

because of your piety? ^u

⁵Isn’t your wickedness abundant

and aren’t your iniquities endless?

⁶For you took collateral ^vfrom 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, ^w

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 ^xwas ^ycrushed.

¹⁰Therefore snares surround you,

and sudden dread terrifies ^zyou,

¹¹or darkness, so you cannot see,

and a flood of water covers you. ^a

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 thick darkness? ^b

¹⁴Clouds ^cveil 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 ^dwere washed away by a river.

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

and “What can the Almighty do to us?” ^ef

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, ^g

²⁰“Surely our opponents are destroyed,

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

²¹Come to terms with God and be at peace; ⁱ

in this way ^jgood will come to you.

²²Receive instruction from His mouth, ^k

and place His sayings ^lin your heart.

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

If you banish injustice from your tent

²⁴and consign your gold to the dust,

the gold of Ophir ⁿto the stones in the wadis,

²⁵the Almighty will be your gold

and your finest silver.

²⁶Then you will delight ^oin the Almighty

and lift up your face to God. ^p

²⁷You will pray to Him, and He will hear you, ^q

and you will fulfill your vows.

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

and light will shine on your ways. ^s

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

God will save the humble. ^tu

³⁰He will even rescue the guilty one,

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