Job 22

Eliphaz: Can a Man Be of Use to God?

¹ Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:

² “Can a man be of use to God? Can even a wise man benefit Him?

³ Does it delight the Almighty that you are righteous? Does He profit if your ways are blameless?

⁴ Is it for your reverence that He rebukes you and enters into judgment against you?

⁵ Is not your wickedness great? Are not your iniquities endless?

⁶ For you needlessly demanded security from your brothers and deprived the naked of their clothing.

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

⁸ while the land belonged to a mighty man, and a man of honor 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 peril terrifies you;

¹¹ it is so dark you cannot see, and a flood of water covers you.

¹² Is not God as high as the heavens? Look at the highest stars, how lofty they are!

¹³ Yet you say: ‘What does God know? Does He judge through thick darkness?

¹⁴ Thick clouds veil Him so He does not see us as He traverses the vault of heaven.¹’

¹⁵ Will you stay on the ancient path that wicked men have trod?

¹⁶ They were snatched away before their time, and their foundations were swept away by a flood.

¹⁷ They said to God, ‘Depart from us. What can the Almighty do to us?’

¹⁸ But it was He who filled their houses with good things; so I stay far from the counsel of the wicked.

¹⁹ The righteous see it and are glad; the innocent mock them:

²⁰ ‘Surely our foes are destroyed, and fire has consumed their excess.’

²¹ Reconcile now and be at peace with Him; thereby good will come to you.

²² Receive instruction from His mouth, and lay up His words in your heart.

²³ If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored. If you remove injustice from your tents

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

²⁵ then the Almighty will be your gold and the finest silver for you.

²⁶ Surely 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 fulfill your vows.

²⁸ Your decisions will be carried out, and light will shine on your ways.

²⁹ When men are brought low and you say, ‘Lift them up!’ then He will save the lowly.

³⁰ He will deliver even one who is not innocent, rescuing him through the cleanness of your hands.”