Job 22

1Eliphaz the Temanite said in reply:

2Can an individual be of use to God,An intellect provide benefit?

3Does Shaddai gain if you are righteous,Or profit if your conduct is blameless?

4Is it because of your piety that you are arraigned,And entered into God’s judgment?

5You know that your wickedness is great,And that your iniquities have no limit.

6You exact pledges from your fellows without reason,And leave them naked, stripped of their clothes;

7You do not give the thirsty water to drink;You deny bread to the hungry.

8The land belongs to the strong;The privileged occupy it.

9You have sent away widows empty-handed;The strength of the fatherless is broken.

10Therefore snares are all around you,And sudden terrors frighten you,

11Or darkness, so you cannot see;A flood of waters covers you.

12God is in the heavenly heights;See the highest stars, how lofty!

13You say, “What can God know?Is it possible to govern through the dense cloud?

14The clouds form an opaque screenAs [God] moves about the circuit of heaven.”

15Have you observed the immemorial pathThat evildoers have trodden;

16How they were shriveled up before their timeAnd their foundation poured out like a river?

17They said to God, “Leave us alone;What can Shaddai do about it?”

18But it was this One who filled their houses with good things.(The thoughts of the wicked are beyond me!)

19The righteous, seeing the fate of the wicked, rejoiced;The innocent laughed with scorn.

20Surely their substance was destroyed,And their remnant consumed by fire.

21Be close to [God] and wholehearted;Good things will come to you thereby.

22Accept instruction from God’s mouth;Lay up those words in your heart.

23If you return to Shaddai you will be restored,If you banish iniquity from your tent;

24If you regard treasure as dirt,Ophir-gold as stones of the wadi,

25And Shaddai be your treasureAnd precious silver for you,

26When you seek the favor of Shaddai,And lift up your face to God,

27You will offer prayer, and be heard,And you will pay your vows.

28You will decree and it will be fulfilled,And light will shine upon your affairs.

29When others sink low, you will say it is pride;For [God] saves the humble.

30The guilty will be delivered—Through the cleanness of your hands.