VerseAI

NIV

Job 22

  1. 1<pb/>Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:
  2. 2<pb/><t>“Can a man be of benefit to God?</t> <t>Can even a wise person benefit him?</t>
  3. 3<t>What pleasure would it give the Almighty if you were righteous?</t> <t>What would he gain if your ways were blameless? <pb/></t>
  4. 4<t>“Is it for your piety that he rebukes you</t> <t>and brings charges against you?</t>
  5. 5<t>Is not your wickedness great?</t> <t>Are not your sins endless?</t>
  6. 6<t>You demanded security from your relatives for no reason;</t> <t>you stripped people of their clothing, leaving them naked.</t>
  7. 7<t>You gave no water to the weary</t> <t>and you withheld food from the hungry,</t>
  8. 8<t>though you were a powerful man, owning land—</t> <t>an honored man, living on it.</t>
  9. 9<t>And you sent widows away empty-handed</t> <t>and broke the strength of the fatherless.</t>
  10. 10<t>That is why snares are all around you,</t> <t>why sudden peril terrifies you,</t>
  11. 11<t>why it is so dark you cannot see,</t> <t>and why a flood of water covers you. <pb/></t>
  12. 12<t>“Is not God in the heights of heaven?</t> <t>And see how lofty are the highest stars!</t>
  13. 13<t>Yet you say, ‘What does God know?</t> <t>Does he judge through such darkness?</t>
  14. 14<t>Thick clouds veil him, so he does not see us</t> <t>as he goes about in the vaulted heavens.’</t>
  15. 15<t>Will you keep to the old path</t> <t>that the wicked have trod?</t>
  16. 16<t>They were carried off before their time,</t> <t>their foundations washed away by a flood.</t>
  17. 17<t>They said to God, ‘Leave us alone!</t> <t>What can the Almighty do to us?’</t>
  18. 18<t>Yet it was he who filled their houses with good things,</t> <t>so I stand aloof from the plans of the wicked.</t>
  19. 19<t>The righteous see their ruin and rejoice;</t> <t>the innocent mock them, saying,</t>
  20. 20<t>‘Surely our foes are destroyed,</t> <t>and fire devours their wealth.’ <pb/></t>
  21. 21<t>“Submit to God and be at peace with him;</t> <t>in this way prosperity will come to you.</t>
  22. 22<t>Accept instruction from his mouth</t> <t>and lay up his words in your heart.</t>
  23. 23<t>If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored:</t> <t>If you remove wickedness far from your tent</t>
  24. 24<t>and assign your nuggets to the dust,</t> <t>your gold of Ophir to the rocks in the ravines,</t>
  25. 25<t>then the Almighty will be your gold,</t> <t>the choicest silver for you.</t>
  26. 26<t>Surely then you will find delight in the Almighty</t> <t>and will lift up your face to God.</t>
  27. 27<t>You will pray to him, and he will hear you,</t> <t>and you will fulfill your vows.</t>
  28. 28<t>What you decide on will be done,</t> <t>and light will shine on your ways.</t>
  29. 29<t>When people are brought low and you say, ‘Lift them up!’</t> <t>then he will save the downcast.</t>
  30. 30<t>He will deliver even one who is not innocent,</t> <t>who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.”</t>