Job 22

Eliphaz Speaks: Job’s Wickedness Is Great

²²Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:

²“Can a mortal be of use to God?

Can even the wisest be of service to him?^*

³Is it any pleasure to the Almightyⁱ if you are righteous,

or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless?

⁴Is it for your piety that he reproves you

and enters into judgment with you?^*

⁵Is not your wickedness great?

There is no end to your iniquities.^*

⁶For you have exacted pledges from your family for no reason

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 powerful possess the land,

and the favored live in it.

⁹You have sent widows away empty-handed,

and the arms of the orphans you have crushed.^j*

¹⁰Therefore snares are around you,

and sudden terror overwhelms you,

¹¹or darkness so that you cannot see;

a flood of water covers you.^*

¹²“Is not God high in the heavens?

See the highest stars, how lofty they are!

¹³Therefore you say, ‘What does God know?

Can he judge through the deep darkness?^*

¹⁴Thick clouds enwrap him, so that he does not see,

and he walks on the dome of heaven.’

¹⁵Will you keep to the old way

that the wicked have trod?

¹⁶They were snatched away before their time;

their foundation was washed away by a flood.^*

¹⁷They said to God, ‘Leave us alone,’

and ‘What can the Almighty^k do to us?’^l

¹⁸Yet he filled their houses with good things—

but the plans of the wicked are repugnant to me.^*

¹⁹The righteous see it and are glad;

the innocent laugh them to scorn,^*

²⁰saying, ‘Surely our adversaries are cut off,

and what they left, the fire has consumed.’^*

²¹“Agree with God,^m and be at peace;

in this way good will come to you.^*

²²Receive instruction from his mouth,

and lay up his words in your heart.^*

²³If you return to the Almighty,ⁿ you will be restored,

if you remove unrighteousness from your tents,^*

²⁴if you treat gold like dust

and gold of Ophir like the stones of the torrent bed,^*

²⁵and if the Almighty^o is your gold

and your precious silver,^*

²⁶then you will delight yourself in the Almighty^p

and lift up your face to God.^*

²⁷You will pray 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.^*

²⁹When others are humiliated, you say it is pride,

for he saves the humble.^*

³⁰He will deliver even those who are guilty;

they will escape because of the cleanness of your hands.”^q*