Job 22 - ESV Bible - Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said: "Can...

1 Then ¹Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:

2 ²"Can a man be profitable to God? Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself.

3 Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are in the right, or is it gain to him if you ³make your ways blameless?

4 Is it for your fear of him that he reproves you and ⁴enters into judgment with you?

5 Is not your evil abundant? There is no end to your iniquities.

6 For you have ⁵exacted pledges of your brothers for nothing ⁶and stripped the naked of their clothing.

7 You have given no water to the weary to drink, and you have ⁷withheld bread from the hungry.

8 ⁸The man with power possessed the land, and ⁹the favored man lived in it.

9 You have ¹⁰sent widows away empty, and ¹¹the arms of ¹²the fatherless were crushed.

10 Therefore ¹³snares are all around you, and sudden terror overwhelms you,

11 or ¹⁴darkness, so that you cannot see, and a ¹⁵flood of ¹⁶water covers you.

12 "Is not God high in the heavens? See ¹⁷the highest stars, how lofty they are!

13 But you say, ¹⁸'What does God know? Can he judge through ¹⁹the deep darkness?

14 ²⁰Thick 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 ²¹before their time; their foundation was washed away.

17 They said to God, ²²'Depart from us,' and ²³'What can the Almighty do to us?'^a

18 Yet he filled their houses with good things-- but ²⁴the counsel of the wicked is far from me.

19 ²⁵The righteous see it and are glad; the innocent one ²⁶mocks at them,

20 saying, 'Surely our adversaries are cut off, and what they left ²⁷the fire has consumed.'

21 ²⁸"Agree with God, and ²⁹be at peace; thereby good will come to you.

22 Receive instruction from ³⁰his mouth, and ³¹lay up his words in your heart.

23 If you ³²return to the Almighty you will be ³³built up; if you ³⁴remove injustice far from your tents,

24 if you lay gold in ³⁵the dust, and gold of ³⁶Ophir among the stones of the torrent-bed,

25 then the Almighty will be your gold and your precious silver.

26 For then you ³⁷will delight yourself in the Almighty and ³⁸lift up your face to God.

27 You will ³⁹make your prayer to him, and he will hear you, and you will ⁴⁰pay your vows.

28 You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you, and ⁴¹light will shine on your ways.

29 For when they are humbled you say, 'It is because of pride';^b but he saves ⁴²the lowly.

30 He ⁴³delivers even the one who is not innocent,^c who will be delivered through ⁴⁴the cleanness of your hands."

Job 22 ESV