Job 22–24

Chapter 22

¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:

²“Can a man be profitable to God?

Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself.

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

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

⁴Is it for your fear of him 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 of your brothers for nothing,

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 man with power possessed the land,

and the favored man dwelt in it.

⁹You have sent widows away empty,

and the arms of the fatherless were crushed.

¹⁰Therefore snares are round about you,

and sudden terror overwhelms you;

¹¹your light is darkened, so that^e you cannot see,

and 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 vault of heaven.’

¹⁵Will you keep to the old way

which wicked men have trod?

¹⁶They were snatched away before their time;

their foundation was washed away.

¹⁷They said to God, ‘Depart from us,’

and ‘What can the Almighty do to us?’

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;

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, and be at peace;

thereby good will come to you.

²²Receive instruction from his mouth,

and lay up his words in your heart.

²³If you return to the Almighty and humble yourself,^g

if you remove unrighteousness far from your tents,

²⁴if you lay gold in the dust,

and gold of Ophir among the stones of the torrent bed,

²⁵and if the Almighty is your gold,

and your precious silver;

²⁶then you will delight yourself in the Almighty,

and lift up your face to God.

²⁷You will make your prayer 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.

²⁹For God abases the proud,^h

but he saves the lowly.

³⁰He delivers the innocent man;ⁱ

you will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.”

Chapter 23

¹Then Job answered:

²“Today also my complaint is bitter,^j

his^k hand is heavy in spite of my groaning.

³Oh, that I knew where I might find him,

that I might come even to his seat!

⁴I would lay my case before him

and fill my mouth with arguments.

⁵I would learn what he would answer me,

and understand what he would say to me.

⁶Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power?

No; he would give heed to me.

⁷There an upright man could reason with him,

and I should be acquitted for ever by my judge.

⁸“Behold, I go forward, but he is not there;

and backward, but I cannot perceive him;

⁹on the left hand I seek him,^l but I cannot behold him;

I^m turn to the right hand, but I cannot see him.

¹⁰But he knows the way that I take;

when he has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

¹¹My foot has held fast to his steps;

I have kept his way and have not turned aside.

¹²I have not departed from the commandment of his lips;

I have treasured inⁿ my bosom the words of his mouth.

¹³But he is unchangeable and who can turn him?

What he desires, that he does.

¹⁴For he will complete what he appoints for me;

and many such things are in his mind.

¹⁵Therefore I am terrified at his presence;

when I consider, I am in dread of him.

¹⁶God has made my heart faint;

the Almighty has terrified me;

¹⁷for I am^o hemmed in by darkness,

and thick darkness covers my face.^p

Chapter 24

¹“Why are not times of judgment kept by the Almighty,

and why do those who know him never see his days?

²Men remove landmarks;

they seize flocks and pasture them.

³They drive away the ass of the fatherless;

they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.

⁴They thrust the poor off the road;

the poor of the earth all hide themselves.

⁵Behold, like wild asses in the desert

they go forth to their toil,

seeking prey in the wilderness

as food^q for their children.

⁶They gather their^r fodder in the field

and they glean the vineyard of the wicked man.

⁷They lie all night naked, without clothing,

and have no covering in the cold.

⁸They are wet with the rain of the mountains,

and cling to the rock for want of shelter.

⁹(There are those who snatch the fatherless child from the breast,

and take in pledge the infant of the poor.)

¹⁰They go about naked, without clothing;

hungry, they carry the sheaves;

¹¹among the olive rows of the wicked^s they make oil;

they tread the wine presses, but suffer thirst.

¹²From out of the city the dying groan,

and the soul of the wounded cries for help;

yet God pays no attention to their prayer.

¹³“There are those who rebel against the light,

who are not acquainted with its ways,

and do not stay in its paths.

¹⁴The murderer rises in the dark,^t

that he may kill the poor and needy;

and in the night he is as a thief.

¹⁵The eye of the adulterer also waits for the twilight,

saying, ‘No eye will see me’;

and he disguises his face.

¹⁶In the dark they dig through houses;

by day they shut themselves up;

they do not know the light.

¹⁷For deep darkness is morning to all of them;

for they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness.

¹⁸“You say, ‘They are swiftly carried away upon the face of the waters;

their portion is cursed in the land;

no treader turns toward their vineyards.

¹⁹Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters;

so does Sheol those who have sinned.

²⁰The squares of the town^u forget them;

their name^v is no longer remembered;

so wickedness is broken like a tree.’

²¹“They feed on the barren childless woman,

and do no good to the widow.

²²Yet God^w prolongs the life of the mighty by his power;

they rise up when they despair of life.

²³He gives them security, and they are supported;

and his eyes are upon their ways.

²⁴They are exalted a little while, and then are gone;

they wither and fade like the mallow;^x

they are cut off like the heads of grain.

²⁵If it is not so, who will prove me a liar,

and show that there is nothing in what I say?”