Job 22

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:	1 Then Eliphaz the Themanite responded by saying:
2 Can a man be profitable to God? Though to himself a wise man be profitable!	2 Can man be compared with God, even if he were perfect in knowledge?
3 Is it of advantage to the Almighty if you are just? Or is it a gain to him if you make your ways perfect?	3 What advantage is it to God, if you were just? Or what do you provide for him, if your way should be immaculate?
4 Is it because of your piety that he reproves you-- that he enters with you into judgment?	4 Will he reprove you and take you to judgment for being afraid,
5 Is not your wickedness manifold? Are not your iniquities endless?	5 and not because of your many evil deeds and your infinite unfairness?
6 You have unjustly kept your kinsmen's goods in pawn, left them stripped naked of their clothing.	6 For you have taken away the collateral of your brothers without cause, and stripped them naked of their clothing.
7 To the thirsty you have given no water to drink, and from the hungry you have withheld bread;	7 You have not given water to the weary; you have taken bread away from the hungry.
8 As if the land belonged to the man of might, and only the privileged were to dwell in it.	8 By the strength of your arm, you took possession of the land, and you retain it by being the strongest.
9 You have sent widows away empty-handed, and the resources of orphans you have destroyed.	9 You have sent widows away empty, and you have crushed the shoulders of orphans.
10 Therefore snares are round about you, and a sudden terror causes you dismay,	10 Because of this, you are surrounded by traps, and unexpected fears will disturb you.
11 Or darkness, in which you cannot see; a deluge of waters covers you.	11 And did you think that you would not see darkness and that you were not to be overwhelmed by the on-rush of overflowing waters?
12 Does not God, in the heights of the heavens, behold the stars, high though they are?	12 Have you not considered that God is higher than the heavens and is lifted above the height of the stars?
13 Yet you say, "What does God know? Can he judge through the thick darkness?	13 And you say: “Well, what does God know?” and, “He judges, as if through a fog,”
14 Clouds hide him so that he cannot see; he walks upon the vault of the heavens!"	14 and, “The clouds are his hiding-place,” and, “He does not examine us closely,” and, “He makes his rounds at the limits of the heavens.”
15 Do you indeed keep to the ancient way trodden by worthless men,	15 Do you not want to tend the path of the ages, which wicked men have spurned?
16 Who were snatched away before their time; whose foundations a flood swept away?	16 These were taken away before their time, and a flood overthrew their foundation.
17 These men said to God, "Depart from us!" and, "What can the Almighty do to us?"	17 They said to God, “Withdraw from us,” and they treated the Almighty as if he could do nothing,
18 (Yet he had filled their houses with good things! But far be from me the mind of the impious!)	18 though he had filled their houses with good things. May their way of thinking be far from me.
19 The just look on and are gladdened, and the innocent deride them:	19 The just will see and will rejoice, and the innocent will mock them.
20 "Truly these have been destroyed where they stood, and such as were left, fire has consumed!"	20 Has not their haughtiness been cut down, and has not fire devoured the remnants of them?
21 Come to terms with him to be at peace. In this shall good come to you:	21 So, repose yourself with him and be at peace, and, in this way, you will have the best fruits.
22 Receive instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in your heart.	22 Accept the law from his mouth, and place his words in your heart.
23 If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored; if you put iniquity far from your tent,	23 If you will return to the Almighty, you will be rebuilt, and you will put sinfulness far from your tabernacle.
24 And treat raw gold like dust, and the fine gold of Ophir as pebbles from the brook,	24 He will give you stone in place of dirt, and torrents of gold in place of stone.
25 Then the Almighty himself shall be your gold and your sparkling silver.	25 And the Almighty will be against your enemies, and silver will be gathered together for you.
26 For then you shall delight in the Almighty and you shall lift up your face toward God.	26 Then will you flock together in delight over the Almighty, and you will lift up your face to God.
27 You shall entreat him and he will hear you, and your vows you shall fulfill.	27 You will plead with him, and he will listen to you, and you will pay your vows.
28 When you make a decision, it shall succeed for you, and upon your ways the light shall shine.	28 You will decide on something, and it will come to you, and the light will shine in your ways.
29 For he brings down the pride of the haughty, but the man of humble mien he saves.	29 For he who had been humbled, will be in glory; and he who will lower his eyes, will be the one saved.
30 God delivers him who is innocent; you shall be delivered through cleanness of hands.	30 The innocent will be saved, and he will be saved with purity in his hands.