22:1 And Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said, |
22:2 "Can a man be profitable to God, or can a wise man be profitable to Him? |
22:3 Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that you are righteous, or is it a gain to Him that you make your ways blameless? |
22:4 Is it for your fear of Him that he reproves you, or that He enters into judgment with you? |
22:5 Is not your wickedness great, and your iniquity without measure? |
22:6 For you have taken a pledge from your brother for nothing, and stripped the naked of their clothing. |
22:7 You have not given water to the weary to drink, and you have held back bread from the hungry. |
22:8 But the earth belongs to the mighty man, and the honorable man lived in it. |
22:9 You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken. |
22:10 Therefore snares are all around you, and sudden fear troubles you; |
22:11 Or darkness, so that you cannot see; and a flood of waters covers you. |
22:12 Is not God high in heaven? And behold the height of the stars, how high they are! |
22:13 And you say, 'What does God know? Can He judge through the dark cloud? |
22:14 Clouds are a covering to Him, so that He does not see; and He walks on the circuit of heaven.' |
22:15 Do you keep to the old way which wicked men have walked, |
22:16 Who were cut down before their time, whose foundations were deluged by a flood? |
22:17 Who said to God, 'Depart from us! What can the Almighty do to them?' |
22:18 Yet He filled their houses with good things; but the counsel of the wicked is far from me. |
22:19 The righteous saw it, and were glad; and the innocent laughed them to scorn, saying, |
22:20 'Truly our adversaries are cut down, and fire consumed their abundance.' |
22:21 Now agree with Him, and be at peace, thereby good shall come to you. |
22:22 Please receive the law from His mouth and lay up His words in your heart. |
22:23 If you return to the Almighty, you shall be built up; you shall put away unrighteousness far from your tabernacles. |
22:24 Then you shall lay up gold like dust, the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks. |
22:25 Yea, the Almighty shall be your gold and you shall have plenty of silver. |
22:26 For then you shall have your delight in the Almighty, and shall lift up your face to God. |
22:27 You shall make your prayer to Him, and He shall hear you, and you shall pay your vows. |
22:28 You shall also decree a thing, and it shall be fulfilled to you; and the light shall shine upon your ways. |
22:29 When they cast you down, then you shall say, 'A lifting up shall come!' And He shall save the humble person. |
22:30 He shall deliver even one who is not innocent, yea, you shall be delivered through the cleanness of your hands." |