Job 22

New International Version

• 1. Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:
• 2. "Can a man be of benefit to God? Can even a wise man benefit him?
• 3. What pleasure would it give the Almighty if you were righteous? What would he gain if your ways were blameless?
• 4. "Is it for your piety that he rebukes you and brings charges against you?
• 5. Is not your wickedness great? Are not your sins endless?
• 6. You demanded security from your brothers for no reason; you stripped men of their clothing, leaving them naked.
• 7. You gave no water to the weary and you withheld food from the hungry,
• 8. though you were a powerful man, owning land- an honored man, living on it.
• 9. And you sent widows away empty-handed and broke the strength of the fatherless.
• 10. That is why snares are all around you, why sudden peril terrifies you,
• 11. why it is so dark you cannot see, and why a flood of water covers you.
• 12. "Is not God in the heights of heaven? And see how lofty are the highest stars!
• 13. Yet you say, 'What does God know? Does he judge through such darkness?
• 14. Thick clouds veil him, so he does not see us as he goes about in the vaulted heavens.'
• 15. Will you keep to the old path that evil men have trod?
• 16. They were carried off before their time, their foundations washed away by a flood.
• 17. They said to God, 'Leave us alone! What can the Almighty do to us?'
• 18. Yet it was he who filled their houses with good things, so I stand aloof from the counsel of the wicked.
• 19. "The righteous see their ruin and rejoice; the innocent mock them, saying,
• 20. 'Surely our foes are destroyed, and fire devours their wealth.'
• 21. "Submit to God and be at peace with him; in this way prosperity will come to you.
• 22. Accept instruction from his mouth and lay up his words in your heart.
• 23. If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored: If you remove wickedness far from your tent
• 24. and assign your nuggets to the dust, your gold of Ophir to the rocks in the ravines,
• 25. then the Almighty will be your gold, the choicest silver for you.
• 26. Surely then you will find delight in the Almighty and will lift up your face to God.
• 27. You will pray to him, and he will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows.
• 28. What you decide on will be done, and light will shine on your ways.
• 29. When men are brought low and you say, 'Lift them up!' then he will save the downcast.
• 30. He will deliver even one who is not innocent, who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands."

New International Version