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Job 22

¹Then Eli'phaz the Te'manite answered:

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

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

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

⁵Is not your wickedness great? There is no end to your iniquities.

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

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

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

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

¹⁰Therefore snares are round about you, and sudden terror overwhelms you;

¹¹your light is darkened, so that you cannot see, and a flood of water covers you.

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

¹³Therefore you say, `erefore you say, "What does God know? Can he judge through the deep darkness?

¹⁴Thick clouds enwrap him, so that he does not see, and he walks on the vault of heaven.'

¹⁵Will you keep to the old way which wicked men have trod?

¹⁶They were snatched away before their time; their foundation was washed away.

¹⁷They said to God, `ey said to God, "Depart from us,' and `d "What can the Almighty do to us?'

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

¹⁹The righteous see it and are glad; the innocent laugh them to scorn,

²⁰saying, `f, and what they left the fire has consumed.'

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

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

²³If you return to the Almighty and humble yourself, if you remove unrighteousness far from your tents,

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

²⁵and if the Almighty is your gold, and your precious silver;

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

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

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

²⁹For God abases the proud, but he saves the lowly.

³⁰He delivers the innocent man; you will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands."

Job 22 (RSV)

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Job

Chapter 22

22 of 42