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Eliphaz Speaks: Admit You Are Wicked, Job

22 Then Eliphaz from Teman replied to Job,

“Can a human be of any use to El
    when even a wise person is only useful to himself?
Is Shadday pleased when you are righteous?
    Does he gain anything when you follow the path of integrity?
Does God correct you
    and bring you into a court of law because you fear him?

“Aren’t you really very wicked?
    Is there no end to your wrongdoing?
For no reason you take your brothers’ goods as security for a loan
    and strip them of their clothes.[a]
You don’t even give a tired person a drink of water,
    and you take food away from hungry people.
        A strong person owns the land.
        A privileged person lives in it.
You send widows away empty-handed,
    and the arms of orphans are broken.
10 That is why traps are all around you
    and great fear suddenly grips you.
11 That is why darkness surrounds you and you cannot see
    and a flood of water covers you.

12 “Isn’t Eloah high above in the heavens?
    Look how high the highest stars are!
13 You ask, ‘What does El know?
    Can he judge anything from behind a dark cloud?
14 Thick clouds surround him so that he cannot see.
    He walks above the clouds.’[b]

15 “Are you following the old path that wicked people have taken?
16 They are snatched up before their time.
    A river washes their foundation away.
17 They told El, ‘Leave us alone!
    What can Shadday do for us?’
18 Yet, he filled their homes with good things.
    (The plan of the wicked is foreign to my way of thinking.)
19 The righteous saw it and were glad,
    and the innocent made fun of them by saying,
20 ‘Indeed, their wealth has been wiped out,
    and a fire has burned up what little they had left.’

Make Peace with God

21 “Be in harmony and at peace with God.
    In this way you will have prosperity.
22 Accept instruction from his mouth,
    and keep his words in your heart.
23 If you return to Shadday you will prosper.
    If you put wrongdoing out of your tent,
24 and lay your gold down in the dust,
    and put your gold from Ophir among the pebbles in the rivers,
25 then Shadday will become your gold
    and your large supply of silver.
26 Then you will be happy with Shadday
    and look up toward Eloah.
27 You will pray to him, and he will listen to you,
    and you will keep your vow to him.
28 When you promise to do something, you will succeed,
    and light will shine on your path.
29 When others are discouraged, you will say, ‘Cheer up!’
    Then he will save the humble person.[c]
30 He will rescue one who is not innocent.
    That person will be rescued by your purity.”

Footnotes

  1. Job 22:6 Clothes were often used as security deposits for loans in biblical times.
  2. Job 22:14 English equivalent difficult.
  3. Job 22:29 Or “you will say, ‘It’s conceit.’ But he will save the humble person.”

Eliphaz Speaks: Job's Wickedness Is Great

22 Then (A)Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:

(B)“Can a man be profitable to God?
    Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself.
Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are in the right,
    or is it gain to him if you (C)make your ways blameless?
Is it for your fear of him that he reproves you
    and (D)enters into judgment with you?
Is not your evil abundant?
    There is no end to your iniquities.
For you have (E)exacted pledges of your brothers for nothing
    (F)and stripped the naked of their clothing.
You have given no water to the weary to drink,
    and you have (G)withheld bread from the hungry.
(H)The man with power possessed the land,
    and (I)the favored man lived in it.
You have (J)sent widows away empty,
    and (K)the arms of (L)the fatherless were crushed.
10 Therefore (M)snares are all around you,
    and sudden terror overwhelms you,
11 or (N)darkness, so that you cannot see,
    and a (O)flood of (P)water covers you.

12 “Is not God high in the heavens?
    See (Q)the highest stars, how lofty they are!
13 But you say, (R)‘What does God know?
    Can he judge through (S)the deep darkness?
14 (T)Thick clouds veil him, so that he does not see,
    and he walks on the vault of heaven.’
15 Will you keep to the old way
    that wicked men have trod?
16 They were snatched away (U)before their time;
    their foundation was washed away.[a]
17 They said to God, (V)‘Depart from us,’
    and (W)‘What can the Almighty do to us?’[b]
18 Yet he filled their houses with good things—
    but (X)the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
19 (Y)The righteous see it and are glad;
    the innocent one (Z)mocks at them,
20 saying, ‘Surely our adversaries are cut off,
    and what they left (AA)the fire has consumed.’

21 (AB)“Agree with God, and (AC)be at peace;
    thereby good will come to you.
22 Receive instruction from (AD)his mouth,
    and (AE)lay up his words in your heart.
23 If you (AF)return to the Almighty you will be (AG)built up;
    if you (AH)remove injustice far from your tents,
24 if you lay gold in (AI)the dust,
    and gold of (AJ)Ophir among the stones of the torrent-bed,
25 then the Almighty will be your gold
    and your precious silver.
26 For then you (AK)will delight yourself in the Almighty
    and (AL)lift up your face to God.
27 You will (AM)make your prayer to him, and he will hear you,
    and you will (AN)pay your vows.
28 You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you,
    and (AO)light will shine on your ways.
29 For when they are humbled you say, ‘It is because of pride’;[c]
    but he saves (AP)the lowly.
30 He (AQ)delivers even the one who is not innocent,
    who will be delivered through (AR)the cleanness of your hands.”

Footnotes

  1. Job 22:16 Or their foundation was poured out as a stream (or river)
  2. Job 22:17 Hebrew them
  3. Job 22:29 Or you say, ‘It is exaltation’