Job 22

Eliphaz Answers

1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:

2 “Can anyone be of real use to God? Can even a wise person do him good?

3 Does it help the Almighty for you to be good? Does he gain anything if you are innocent?

4 Does God punish you for respecting him? Does he bring you into court for this?

5 No! It is because your evil is without limits and your sins have no end.

6 You took your brothers’ things for a debt they didn’t owe; you took clothes from people and left them naked.

7 You did not give water to tired people, and you kept food from the hungry.

8 You were a powerful man who owned land; you were honored and lived in the land.

9 But you sent widows away empty-handed, and you mistreated orphans.

10 That is why traps are all around you and sudden danger frightens you.

11 That is why it is so dark you cannot see and a flood of water covers you.

12 “God is in the highest part of heaven. See how high the highest stars are!

13 But you ask, ‘What does God know? Can he judge us through the dark clouds?

14 Thick clouds cover him so he cannot see us as he walks around high up in the sky.’

15 Are you going to stay on the old path where evil people walk?

16 They were carried away before their time was up, and their foundations were washed away by a flood.

17 They said to God, ‘Leave us alone! The Almighty can do nothing to us.’

18 But it was God who filled their houses with good things. Their way of thinking is different from mine.

19 “Good people can watch and be glad; the innocent can laugh at them and say,

20 ‘Surely our enemies are destroyed, and fire burns up their wealth.’

21 “Obey God and be at peace with him; this is the way to happiness.

22 Accept teaching from his mouth, and keep his words in your heart.

23 If you return to the Almighty, you will be blessed again. So remove evil from your house.

24 Throw your gold nuggets into the dust and your fine gold among the rocks in the ravines.

25 Then the Almighty will be your gold and the best silver for you.

26 You will find pleasure in the Almighty, and you will look up to him.

27 You will pray to him, and he will hear you, and you will keep your promises to him.

28 Anything you decide will be done, and light will shine on your ways.

29 When people are made humble and you say, ‘Have courage,’ then the humble will be saved.
30 Even a guilty person will escape and be saved because your hands are clean.”

Job 22

1 Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said,

2 Can a man be profitable unto God? Surely he that is wise is profitable unto himself.

3 Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that thou art righteous? Or is it gain to him, that thou makest thy ways perfect?

4 Is it for thy fear of him that he reproveth thee, That he entereth with thee into judgment?

5 Is not thy wickedness great? Neither is there any end to thine iniquities.

6 For thou hast taken pledges of thy brother for nought, And stripped the naked of their clothing.

7 Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink, And thou hast withholden bread from the hungry.

8 But as for the mighty man, he had the earth; And the honorable man, he dwelt in it.

9 Thou hast sent widows away empty, And the arms of the fatherless have been broken.

10 Therefore snares are round about thee, And sudden fear troubleth thee,

11 Or darkness, so that thou canst not see, And abundance of waters cover thee.

12 Is not God in the height of heaven? And behold the height of the stars, how high they are!

13 And thou sayest, What doth God know? Can he judge through the thick darkness?

14 Thick clouds are a covering to him, so that he seeth not; And he walketh on the vault of heaven.

15 Wilt thou keep the old way Which wicked men have trodden?

16 Who were snatched away before their time, Whose foundation was poured out as a stream,

17 Who said unto God, Depart from us; And, What can the Almighty do for us?

18 Yet he filled their houses with good things: But the counsel of the wicked is far from me.

19 The righteous see it, and are glad; And the innocent laugh them to scorn,

20  Saying, Surely they that did rise up against us are cut off, And the remnant of them the fire hath consumed.

21 Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: Thereby good shall come unto thee.

22 Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, And lay up his words in thy heart.

23 If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, If thou put away unrighteousness far from thy tents.

24 And lay thou thy treasure in the dust, And the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks;

25 And the Almighty will be thy treasure, And precious silver unto thee.

26 For then shalt thou delight thyself in the Almighty, And shalt lift up thy face unto God.

27 Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he will hear thee; And thou shalt pay thy vows.

28 Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee; And light shall shine upon thy ways.

29 When they cast thee down, thou shalt say, There is lifting up; And the humble person he will save.

30 He will deliver even him that is not innocent: Yea, he shall be delivered through the cleanness of thy hands.