Job 22

Eliphaz: Can a Human Be of Use to God?

1Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said: 2“Can a human be of use to God?
Surely a wise person is useful only to himself. 3Is it a delight to the Almighty if you are righteous,
or gain to him if you make your ways blameless? 4Is it because of your fear that he corrects you
and enters into judgment with you? 5Is not your wickedness great,
and is there no end to your guilt?

You Have Taken Pledges from Your Brothers

6For you have taken a pledge from your brothers for nothing
and stripped the clothing of the naked. 7You have not given water to the weary to drink,
and from the hungry you have withheld bread. 8The land belonged to the man of power,
and the favored person lived in it. 9You sent widows away empty,
and the arms of the fatherless were crushed. 10Therefore snares are around you,
and sudden dread terrifies you, 11or darkness, so that you cannot see,
and a flood of waters covers you.

Does God Not See?

12Is not God high in the heavens?
See the highest stars, how high they are! 13Yet you say, ‘What does God know?
Can he judge through thick darkness? 14Clouds are his covering, so he cannot see,
and he walks upon the vault of heaven.’

Will You Keep the Ancient Path?

15Will you keep the ancient path
that people of wickedness walked, 16who were snatched away before their time,
whose foundation was poured away like a river? 17They said to God, ‘Depart from us,’
and, ‘What can the Almighty do to us?’ 18Yet he filled their houses with good things.
The counsel of the wicked is far from me. 19The righteous see it and rejoice,
and the innocent mock them, 20saying, ‘Surely our adversaries are cut off,
and fire has consumed what remained of them.’

Return to the Almighty

21Become acquainted with him and be at peace;
by this good will come to you. 22Receive instruction from his mouth,
and place his words in your heart. 23If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored;
if you remove injustice far from your tents, 24and put your gold in the dust,
and the gold of Ophir among the stones of the wadis, 25then the Almighty will be your gold
and your precious silver. 26For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty
and lift up your face to God. 27You will pray to him, and he will hear you,
and you will fulfill your vows. 28You will decide a matter, and it will stand for you,
and light will shine upon your ways. 29When people are brought low, you will say, ‘Lift up!’
and he will save the one of lowered eyes. 30He will deliver even one who is not innocent;
he will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.”