Job 22 - Christian Standard Bible Anglicised Christian Standard Bible Anglicised
Job 22

¹ Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:

² Can a man be of any use to God? Can even a wise man be of use to him?

³ Does it delight the Almighty if you are righteous? Does he profit if you perfect your behaviour?

⁴ Does he correct you and take you to court because of your piety?

⁵ Isn’t your wickedness abundant and aren’t your iniquities endless?

⁶ For you took collateral  from your brothers without cause, stripping off their clothes and leaving them naked.

⁷ You gave no water to the thirsty and withheld food from the famished,

⁸ while the land belonged to a powerful man and an influential man lived on it.

⁹ You sent widows away empty-handed, and the strength of the fatherless  was   crushed.

¹⁰ Therefore snares surround you, and sudden dread terrifies   you,

¹¹ or darkness, so you cannot see, and a flood of water covers you.

¹² Isn’t God as high as the heavens? And look at the highest stars #– #how lofty they are!

¹³ Yet you say, ‘What does God know? Can he judge through total darkness?

¹⁴ Clouds  veil him so that he cannot see, as he walks on the circle of the sky.’

¹⁵ Will you continue on the ancient path that wicked men have walked?

¹⁶ They were snatched away before their time, and their foundations  were washed away by a river.

¹⁷ They were the ones who said to God, ‘Leave us alone! ’ and ‘What can the Almighty do to us? ’  ,

¹⁸ But it was he who filled their houses with good things. The counsel of the wicked is far from me!

¹⁹ The righteous see this and rejoice; the innocent mock them, saying,

²⁰ ‘Surely our opponents are destroyed, and fire has consumed what they left behind.’

²¹ Come to terms with God and be at peace; in this way  good will come to you.

²² Receive instruction from his mouth, and place his sayings  in your heart.

²³ If you return  to the Almighty, you will be renewed. If you banish injustice from your tent

²⁴ and consign your gold to the dust, the gold of Ophir  to the stones in the wadis,

²⁵ the Almighty will be your gold and your finest silver.

²⁶ Then you will delight   in the Almighty and lift up your face to God.

²⁷ You will pray to him, and he will hear you, and you will fulfil your vows.

²⁸ When you make a decision, it will be carried out, and light will shine on your ways.

²⁹ When others are humiliated and you say, ‘Lift them up,’ God will save the humble.  ,

³⁰ He will even rescue the guilty one, who will be rescued by the purity of your hands.