Eliphaz Speaks: Admit You Are Wicked, Job
22 Then Eliphaz from Teman replied to Job,
2 “Can a human be of any use to El
when even a wise person is only useful to himself?
3 Is Shadday pleased when you are righteous?
Does he gain anything when you follow the path of integrity?
4 Does God correct you
and bring you into a court of law because you fear him?
5 “Aren’t you really very wicked?
Is there no end to your wrongdoing?
6 For no reason you take your brothers’ goods as security for a loan
and strip them of their clothes.[a]
7 You don’t even give a tired person a drink of water,
and you take food away from hungry people.
8 A strong person owns the land.
A privileged person lives in it.
9 You send widows away empty-handed,
and the arms of orphans are broken.
10 That is why traps are all around you
and great fear suddenly grips you.
11 That is why darkness surrounds you and you cannot see
and a flood of water covers you.
12 “Isn’t Eloah high above in the heavens?
Look how high the highest stars are!
13 You ask, ‘What does El know?
Can he judge anything from behind a dark cloud?
14 Thick clouds surround him so that he cannot see.
He walks above the clouds.’[b]
15 “Are you following the old path that wicked people have taken?
16 They are snatched up before their time.
A river washes their foundation away.
17 They told El, ‘Leave us alone!
What can Shadday do for us?’
18 Yet, he filled their homes with good things.
(The plan of the wicked is foreign to my way of thinking.)
19 The righteous saw it and were glad,
and the innocent made fun of them by saying,
20 ‘Indeed, their wealth has been wiped out,
and a fire has burned up what little they had left.’
Make Peace with God
21 “Be in harmony and at peace with God.
In this way you will have prosperity.
22 Accept instruction from his mouth,
and keep his words in your heart.
23 If you return to Shadday you will prosper.
If you put wrongdoing out of your tent,
24 and lay your gold down in the dust,
and put your gold from Ophir among the pebbles in the rivers,
25 then Shadday will become your gold
and your large supply of silver.
26 Then you will be happy with Shadday
and look up toward Eloah.
27 You will pray to him, and he will listen to you,
and you will keep your vow to him.
28 When you promise to do something, you will succeed,
and light will shine on your path.
29 When others are discouraged, you will say, ‘Cheer up!’
Then he will save the humble person.[c]
30 He will rescue one who is not innocent.
That person will be rescued by your purity.”