Chapter 22

¹Then Eliphaz the Themanite answered, and said: ²Can man be compared with God, even though he were of perfect knowledge? ³What doth it profit God if thou be just? or what dost thou give him if thy way be unspotted? ⁴Shall he reprove thee for fear, and come with thee into judgment: ⁵And not for thy manifold wickedness, and thy infinite iniquities? ⁶For thou hast taken away the pledge of thy brethren without cause, and stripped the naked of their clothing. ⁷Thou hast not given water to the weary, thou hast withdrawn bread from the hungry. ⁸In the strength of thy arm thou didst possess the land, and being the most mighty thou holdest it. ⁹Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless thou hast broken in pieces. ¹⁰Therefore art thou surrounded with snares, and sudden fear troubleth thee. ¹¹And didst thou think that thou shouldst not see darkness, and that thou shouldst not be covered with the violence of overflowing waters? ¹²Dost not thou think that God is higher than heaven, and is elevated above the height of the stars? ¹³And thou sayst: What doth God know? and he judgeth as it were through a mist. ¹⁴The clouds are his covert, and he doth not consider our things, and he walketh about the poles of heaven. ¹⁵Dost thou desire to keep the path of ages, which wicked men have trodden? ¹⁶Who were taken away before their time, and a flood hath overthrown their foundation. ¹⁷Who said to God: Depart from us: and looked upon the Almighty as if he could do nothing: ¹⁸Whereas he had filled their houses with good things: whose way of thinking be far from me. ¹⁹The just shall see, and shall rejoice, and the innocent shall laugh them to scorn. ²⁰Is not their exaltation cut down, and hath not fire devoured the remnants of them? ²¹Submit thyself then to him, and be at peace: and thereby thou shalt have the best fruits. ²²Receive the law of his mouth, and lay up his words in thy heart. ²³If thou wilt return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, and shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacle. ²⁴He shall give for earth flint, and for flint torrents of gold. ²⁵And the Almighty shall be against thy enemies, and silver shall be heaped together for thee. ²⁶Then shalt thou abound in delights in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face to God. ²⁷Thou shalt pray to him, and he will hear thee, and thou shalt pay vows. ²⁸Thou shalt decree a thing, and it I shall come to thee, and light shall shine in thy ways. ²⁹For he that hath been humbled, shall be in glory: and he that shall bow down his eyes, he shall be saved. ³⁰The innocent shall be saved, and he shall be saved by the cleanness of his hands.