📖 Job 22
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Eliphaz’s Third Speech Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:
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“Is it to God that a strong man is of benefit? Is it to him that even a wise man is profitable?
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Is it of any special benefit to the Almighty that you should be righteous, or is it any gain to him that you make your ways blameless?
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Is it because of your piety that he rebukes you and goes to judgment with you?
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Is not your wickedness great and is there no end to your iniquity?
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“For you took pledges from your brothers for no reason, and you stripped the clothing from the naked.
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You gave the weary no water to drink and from the hungry you withheld food.
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Although you were a powerful man, owning land, an honored man living on it,
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you sent widows away empty-handed, and the arms of the orphans you crushed.
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That is why snares surround you, and why sudden fear terrifies you,
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why it is so dark you cannot see, and why a flood of water covers you.
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“Is not God on high in heaven? And see the lofty stars, how high they are!
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But you have said,‘What does God know? Does he judge through such deep darkness?
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Thick clouds are a veil for him, so he does not see us, as he goes back and forth in the vault of heaven.’
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Will you keep to the old path that evil men have walked–
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men who were carried off before their time, when the flood was poured out on their foundations?
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They were saying to God,‘Turn away from us,’ and‘What can the Almighty do to us?’
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But it was he who filled their houses with good things– yet the counsel of the wicked was far from me.
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The righteous see their destruction and rejoice; the innocent mock them scornfully, saying,
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‘Surely our enemies are destroyed, and fire consumes their wealth.’
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“Reconcile yourself with God, and be at peace with him; in this way your prosperity will be good.
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Accept instruction from his mouth and store up his words in your heart.
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If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up; if you remove wicked behavior far from your tent,
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and throw your gold in the dust– your gold of Ophir among the rocks in the ravines–
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then the Almighty himself will be your gold, and the choicest silver for you.
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Surely then you will delight yourself in the Almighty, and will lift up your face toward God.
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You will pray to him and he will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows to him.
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Whatever you decide on a matter, it will be established for you, and light will shine on your ways.
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When people are brought low and you say‘Lift them up!’ then he will save the downcast;
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he will deliver even someone who is not innocent, who will escape through the cleanness of your hands.”