Job 22

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