| |
New International Version |   | |
 |
| |
| | Job 22:1 | Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:
| |
| | Job 22:2 | "Can a man be of benefit to God? Can even a wise man benefit him?
| |
| | Job 22:3 | What pleasure would it give the Almighty if you were righteous? What would he gain if your ways were blameless?
| |
| | Job 22:4 | "Is it for your piety that he rebukes you and brings charges against you?
| |
| | Job 22:5 | Is not your wickedness great? Are not your sins endless?
| |
| | Job 22:6 | You demanded security from your brothers for no reason; you stripped men of their clothing, leaving them naked.
| |
| | Job 22:7 | You gave no water to the weary and you withheld food from the hungry,
| |
| | Job 22:8 | though you were a powerful man, owning land-- an honored man, living on it.
| |
| | Job 22:9 | And you sent widows away empty-handed and broke the strength of the fatherless.
| |
| | Job 22:10 | That is why snares are all around you, why sudden peril terrifies you,
| |
| | Job 22:11 | why it is so dark you cannot see, and why a flood of water covers you.
| |
| | Job 22:12 | "Is not God in the heights of heaven? And see how lofty are the highest stars!
| |
| | Job 22:13 | Yet you say, `What does God know? Does he judge through such darkness?
| |
| | Job 22:14 | Thick clouds veil him, so he does not see us as he goes about in the vaulted heavens.'
| |
| | Job 22:15 | Will you keep to the old path that evil men have trod?
| |
| | Job 22:16 | They were carried off before their time, their foundations washed away by a flood.
| |
| | Job 22:17 | They said to God, `Leave us alone! What can the Almighty do to us?'
| |
| | Job 22:18 | Yet it was he who filled their houses with good things, so I stand aloof from the counsel of the wicked.
| |
| | Job 22:19 | "The righteous see their ruin and rejoice; the innocent mock them, saying,
| |
| | Job 22:20 | `Surely our foes are destroyed, and fire devours their wealth.'
| |
| | Job 22:21 | "Submit to God and be at peace with him; in this way prosperity will come to you.
| |
| | Job 22:22 | Accept instruction from his mouth and lay up his words in your heart.
| |
| | Job 22:23 | If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored: If you remove wickedness far from your tent
| |
| | Job 22:24 | and assign your nuggets to the dust, your gold of Ophir to the rocks in the ravines,
| |
| | Job 22:25 | then the Almighty will be your gold, the choicest silver for you.
| |
| | Job 22:26 | Surely then you will find delight in the Almighty and will lift up your face to God.
| |
| | Job 22:27 | You will pray to him, and he will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows.
| |
| | Job 22:28 | What you decide on will be done, and light will shine on your ways.
| |
| | Job 22:29 | When men are brought low and you say, `Lift them up!' then he will save the downcast.
| |
| | Job 22:30 | He will deliver even one who is not innocent, who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands."
| |
