Job 22

DOUAI-RHEIMS	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
1 Then Eliphaz the Themanite answered, and said:	1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:
2 Can man be compared with God, even though he were of perfect knowledge?	2 Can a man be profitable to God? Though to himself a wise man be profitable!
3 What doth it profit God if thou be just? or what dost thou give him if thy way be unspotted?	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 Shall he reprove thee for fear, and come with thee into judgment:	4 Is it because of your piety that he reproves you-- that he enters with you into judgment?
5 And not for thy manifold wickedness, and thy infinite iniquities?	5 Is not your wickedness manifold? Are not your iniquities endless?
6 For thou hast taken away the pledge of thy brethren without cause, and stripped the naked of their clothing.	6 You have unjustly kept your kinsmen's goods in pawn, left them stripped naked of their clothing.
7 Thou hast not given water to the weary, thou hast withdrawn bread from the hungry.	7 To the thirsty you have given no water to drink, and from the hungry you have withheld bread;
8 In the strength of thy arm thou didst possess the land, and being the most mighty thou holdest it.	8 As if the land belonged to the man of might, and only the privileged were to dwell in it.
9 Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless thou hast broken in pieces.	9 You have sent widows away empty-handed, and the resources of orphans you have destroyed.
10 Therefore art thou surrounded with snares, and sudden fear troubleth thee.	10 Therefore snares are round about you, and a sudden terror causes you dismay,
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 Or darkness, in which you cannot see; a deluge of waters covers you.
12 Dost not thou think that God is higher than heaven, and is elevated 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 thou sayst: What doth God know? and he judgeth as it were through a mist.	13 Yet you say, "What does God know? Can he judge through the thick darkness?
14 The clouds are his covert, and he doth not consider our things, and he walketh about the poles of heaven.	14 Clouds hide him so that he cannot see; he walks upon the vault of the heavens!"
15 Dost thou desire to keep the path of ages, which wicked men have trodden?	15 Do you indeed keep to the ancient way trodden by worthless men,
16 Who were taken away before their time, and a flood hath overthrown their foundation.	16 Who were snatched away before their time; whose foundations a flood swept away?
17 Who said to God: Depart from us: and looked upon 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 Whereas he had filled their houses with good things: whose 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 shall see, and shall rejoice, and the innocent shall laugh them to scorn.	19 The just look on and are gladdened, and the innocent deride them:
20 Is not their exaltation cut down, and hath 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 Submit thyself then to him, and be at peace: and thereby thou shalt have the best fruits.	21 Come to terms with him to be at peace. In this shall good come to you:
22 Receive the law of his mouth, and lay up his words in thy heart.	22 Receive instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in 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 to the Almighty, you will be restored; if you put iniquity far from your tent,
24 He shall give for earth flint, and for flint torrents of gold.	24 And treat raw gold like dust, and the fine gold of Ophir as pebbles from the brook,
25 And the Almighty shall be against thy enemies, and silver shall be heaped together for thee.	25 Then the Almighty himself shall be your gold and your sparkling silver.
26 Then shalt thou abound in delights in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face to God.	26 For then you shall delight in the Almighty and you shall lift up your face toward God.
27 Thou shalt pray to him, and he will hear thee, and thou shalt pay vows.	27 You shall entreat him and he will hear you, and your vows you shall fulfill.
28 Thou shalt decree a thing, and it I shall come to thee, and light shall shine in thy ways.	28 When you make a decision, it shall succeed for you, and upon your ways the light shall shine.
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 brings down the pride of the haughty, but the man of humble mien he saves.
30 The innocent shall be saved, and he shall be saved by the cleanness of his hands.	30 God delivers him who is innocent; you shall be delivered through cleanness of hands.