Job 22

DOUAI-RHEIMS	NEW JERUSALEM
1 Then Eliphaz the Themanite answered, and said:	1 Eliphaz of Teman spoke next. He said:
2 Can man be compared with God, even though he were of perfect knowledge?	2 Can a human being contribute anything to God, when even someone intel igent can benefit onlyhimself?
3 What doth it profit God if thou be just? or what dost thou give him if thy way be unspotted?	3 Does Shaddai derive any benefit from your uprightness, or profit from your blameless conduct?
4 Shall he reprove thee for fear, and come with thee into judgment:	4 Do you think he is punishing you for your piety and bringing you to justice for that?
5 And not for thy manifold wickedness, and thy infinite iniquities?	5 No, for your great wickedness, more likely, for your unlimited sins!
6 For thou hast taken away the pledge of thy brethren without cause, and stripped the naked of their clothing.	6 You have exacted unearned pledges from your brothers, stripped people naked of their clothes,
7 Thou hast not given water to the weary, thou hast withdrawn bread from the hungry.	7 failed to give water to the thirsty and refused bread to the hungry;
8 In the strength of thy arm thou didst possess the land, and being the most mighty thou holdest it.	8 handed the land over to a strong man, for some favoured person to move in,
9 Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless thou hast broken in pieces.	9 sent widows away empty-handed and crushed the arms of orphans.
10 Therefore art thou surrounded with snares, and sudden fear troubleth thee.	10 No wonder, then, if snares are al around you, and sudden terrors make you afraid;
11 And didst thou think that thou shouldst not see darkness, and that thou shouldst not be covered with the violence of overflowing waters?	11 if light has turned to darkness, so that you cannot see, and you have been submerged in the flood.
12 Dost not thou think that God is higher than heaven, and is elevated above the height of the stars?	12 Does not God live high in the heavens, does he not see the zenith of the stars?
13 And thou sayst: What doth God know? and he judgeth as it were through a mist.	13 And because he is up there, you have said, 'What does God know? Can he judge through the darkcloud?
14 The clouds are his covert, and he doth not consider our things, and he walketh about the poles of heaven.	14 The clouds, to him, are an impenetrable veil, as he goes his way on the rim of the heavens.'
15 Dost thou desire to keep the path of ages, which wicked men have trodden?	15 And wil you stil fol ow the ancient trail trodden by the wicked,
16 Who were taken away before their time, and a flood hath overthrown their foundation.	16 those who were borne off before their time, whose foundations were swamped by a flood,
17 Who said to God: Depart from us: and looked upon the Almighty as if he could do nothing:	17 for having said to God, 'Go away! What can Shaddai do to us?'
18 Whereas he had filled their houses with good things: whose way of thinking be far from me.	18 Yet he himself had filled their houses with good things, although excluded from the plans of thewicked!
19 The just shall see, and shall rejoice, and the innocent shall laugh them to scorn.	19 At such a spectacle, the upright rejoice, and the innocent deride them:
20 Is not their exaltation cut down, and hath not fire devoured the remnants of them?	20 'See how our enemies have been destroyed! See how their wealth has perished in the flames!'
21 Submit thyself then to him, and be at peace: and thereby thou shalt have the best fruits.	21 Wel then! Make peace with him, be reconciled, and al your happiness will be restored to you.
22 Receive the law of his mouth, and lay up his words in thy heart.	22 Welcome the teaching from his lips, and keep his words close to your heart.
23 If thou wilt return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, and shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacle.	23 If you return, humbled, to Shaddai and drive wickedness far from your tent,
24 He shall give for earth flint, and for flint torrents of gold.	24 if you lay your gold down on the dust, Ophir down among the pebbles of the torrent,
25 And the Almighty shall be against thy enemies, and silver shall be heaped together for thee.	25 Shaddai wil be bars of gold to you and silver piled in heaps.
26 Then shalt thou abound in delights in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face to God.	26 Then Shaddai will be al your delight, and you wil lift your face to God.
27 Thou shalt pray to him, and he will hear thee, and thou shalt pay vows.	27 You wil pray, and he wil hear; and you wil be able to fulfil your vows.
28 Thou shalt decree a thing, and it I shall come to thee, and light shall shine in thy ways.	28 Whatever you undertake wil go wel , and light will shine on your path;
29 For he that hath been humbled, shall be in glory: and he that shall bow down his eyes, he shall be saved.	29 for he casts down the pride of the arrogant, but he saves those of downcast eyes.
30 The innocent shall be saved, and he shall be saved by the cleanness of his hands.	30 He rescues anyone who is innocent; have your hands clean, and you wil be saved.