Job 22

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to give water to the thirsty and refused bread to the hungry;	7 Thou hast not given water to the weary, thou hast withdrawn bread from the hungry.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