Job 22
1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:
2 “Can a man be of use to God? The wise man is useful to himself.
3 Does the Almighty take pleasure in your being righteous? Does he gain anything if your ways are blameless?
4 Is he rebuking you because you fear him? Does he bring you to trial?
5 Isn’t your wickedness great? Aren’t your sins without end?
6 For you took pledges from your brothers without cause and stripped the clothes from the naked.
7 You gave no water to the weary and withheld bread from the hungry.
8 The land belonged to the strong man, and the honored man lived in it.
9 You sent widows away empty-handed, and the arms of orphans were crushed.
10 That is why snares surround you, and sudden terror overwhelms you.”
11 “Or darkness, so you cannot see, and a flood of waters that covers you.
12 Isn’t God high in heaven? Look at the highest stars, how high they are.
13 And you say, ‘What does God know? Can he judge through the darkness?
14 Clouds hide him, so he cannot see; he walks on the vault of heaven.’
15 Will you keep to the ancient path that wicked men walked?
16 They were snatched away before their time, and a river swept their foundations away.
17 They said to God, ‘Leave us alone! What can the Almighty do for them?’
18 Yet he filled their houses with good things. The counsel of the wicked is far from me.
19 The righteous see and rejoice; the innocent mock them:
20 ‘Surely our enemies have been destroyed, and fire has consumed what was left of them.’”
21 “Come to know him and be at peace; then good will come to you.
22 Receive instruction from his mouth, and lay his words to heart.
23 If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored. Remove injustice from your tent.
24 Put your gold in the dust, and the gold of Ophir among the stones of the streams.
25 Then the Almighty will be your gold, and your finest silver.
26 Then you will delight in the Almighty and lift your face to God.
27 You will pray to him, and he will hear you; you will fulfill your vows.
28 You will decide on something, and it will be established for you; light will shine on your ways.
29 When people are brought low, you will say, ‘Be lifted up!’ And he will save the one with downcast eyes.
30 He will deliver even one who is not innocent; that person will be delivered through the purity of your hands.”
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