Job 22

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¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite responded and said,

²“How can anyone be of help to God? Even wise people are only helpful to themselves.

³Is it any benefit to the Almighty if you're a good person? What does he gain if you do what's right?

⁴Does he correct you and bring charges against you because of your reverence?

⁵No: it's because you're so wicked! Your sins are never-ending!

⁶For no reason at all you took your brother's clothing as a security for a debt, and left them stripped naked.

⁷You refused water to the thirsty; you denied food to the hungry.

⁸Is it because the land belongs to the powerful, and only the privileged have a right to live there?

⁹You have sent widows away empty-handed; you have crushed the outstretched arms of orphans, begging for help.

¹⁰That's why you're surrounded by traps to catch you, and why you suddenly panic in terror.

¹¹That's why it's so dark you cannot see, and why you feel like you're drowning.

¹²Doesn't God live in highest heaven and looks down on even the highest stars?

¹³But you ask, ‘What does God know? How can he see and judge what happens in down here in darkness?

¹⁴Thick clouds cover him so he can't see anything as he walks around in heaven.’

¹⁵Why do you insist on following the traditional thinking of the wicked?

¹⁶They were taken before their time; all they had built was washed away.

¹⁷They had told God, ‘Get lost! What can the Almighty do to us?’

¹⁸And yet he was the one who had filled their homes with good things—but I don't accept their way of thinking.

¹⁹Those who do right rejoice when they see the destruction of the wicked, and the innocent mock them,

²⁰saying, ‘Our enemies are destroyed, and fire has burned up all that's left of them.’

²¹Come back to God and be reconciled to him, and you'll be prosperous again.

²²Listen to what he tells you and keep his words in mind.

²³If you return to God you will be restored. If you renounce your sinful life

²⁴and give up your love of money and desire for possessions,

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

²⁶Then you will find delight in the Almighty, and be able to face him without feeling ashamed.

²⁷You will pray to him, and he will hear you, and you will keep your promises to him.

²⁸Whatever you decide to do will be successful, and wherever you go, light will shine on you.

²⁹When others are humbled, and you say, ‘please help them,’ God will save them.

³⁰God saves those who are innocent, and you will be saved if you do what is right.”