Chapter 22

¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered,

²“Can a man be profitable to God?

Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself.

³Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that you are righteous?

Or does it benefit him, that you make your ways perfect?

⁴Is it for your piety that he reproves you,

That he enters with you into judgment?

⁵Isn’t your wickedness great?

Neither is there any end to your iniquities.

⁶For you have taken pledges from your brother for nothing,

And stripped the naked of their clothing.

⁷You haven’t given water to the weary to drink,

And you have withheld bread from the hungry.

⁸But as for the mighty man, he had the earth.

The honorable man, he lived in it.

⁹You have sent widows away empty,

And the arms of the fatherless have been broken.

¹⁰Therefore snares are round about you.

Sudden fear troubles you,

¹¹Or darkness, so that you can not see,

And floods of waters cover you.

¹²“Isn’t God in the heights of heaven?

See the height of the stars, how high they are!

¹³You say, ‘What does God know?

Can he judge through the thick darkness?

¹⁴Thick clouds are a covering to him, so that he doesn’t see.

He walks on the vault of the sky.’

¹⁵Will you keep the old way

Which wicked men have trodden,

¹⁶Who were snatched away before their time,

Whose foundation was poured out as a stream,

¹⁷Who said to God, ‘Depart from us;’

And, ‘What can the Almighty do for us?’

¹⁸Yet he filled their houses with good things,

But the counsel of the wicked is far from me.

¹⁹The righteous see it, and are glad;

The innocent ridicule them,

²⁰Saying, ‘Surely those who rose up against us are cut off,

The fire has consumed the remnant of them.’

²¹“Acquaint yourself with him, now, and be at peace.

Thereby good shall come to you.

²²Please receive instruction from his mouth,

And lay up his words in your heart.

²³If you return to the Almighty, you shall be built up,

If you put away unrighteousness far from your tents.

²⁴Lay your treasure in the dust,

The gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks.

²⁵The Almighty will be your treasure,

Precious silver to you.

²⁶For then shall you delight yourself in the Almighty,

And shall lift up your face to God.

²⁷You shall make your prayer to him, and he will hear you.

You shall pay your vows.

²⁸You shall also decree a thing, and it shall be established to you.

Light shall shine on your ways.

²⁹When they cast down, you shall say, ‘be lifted up.’

He will save the humble person.

³⁰He will even deliver him who is not innocent;

Yes, he shall be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.”