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22:1  Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:
22:2  "Can a person do anything to help God? Can even a wise person be helpful to him?
22:3  Is it any advantage to the Almighty if you are righteous? Would it be any gain to him if you were perfect?
22:4  Is it because you're so pious that he accuses you and brings judgment against you?
22:5  No, it's because of your wickedness! There's no limit to your sins.
22:6  "For example, you must have lent money to your friend and demanded clothing as security. Yes, you stripped him to the bone.
22:7  You must have refused water for the thirsty and food for the hungry.
22:8  You probably think the land belongs to the powerful and only the privileged have a right to it!
22:9  You must have sent widows away empty-handed and crushed the hopes of orphans.
22:10  That is why you are surrounded by traps and tremble from sudden fears.
22:11  That is why you cannot see in the darkness, and waves of water cover you.
22:12  "God is so great--higher than the heavens, higher than the farthest stars.
22:13  But you reply, 'That's why God can't see what I am doing! How can he judge through the thick darkness?
22:14  For thick clouds swirl about him, and he cannot see us. He is way up there, walking on the vault of heaven.'
22:15  "Will you continue on the old paths where evil people have walked?
22:16  They were snatched away in the prime of life, the foundations of their lives washed away.
22:17  For they said to God, 'Leave us alone! What can the Almighty do to us?'
22:18  Yet he was the one who filled their homes with good things, so I will have nothing to do with that kind of thinking.
22:19  "The righteous will be happy to see the wicked destroyed, and the innocent will laugh in contempt.
22:20  They will say, 'See how our enemies have been destroyed. The last of them have been consumed in the fire.'
22:21  "Submit to God, and you will have peace; then things will go well for you.
22:22  Listen to his instructions, and store them in your heart.
22:23  If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored--so clean up your life.
22:24  If you give up your lust for money and throw your precious gold into the river,
22:25  the Almighty himself will be your treasure. He will be your precious silver!
22:26  "Then you will take delight in the Almighty and look up to God.
22:27  You will pray to him, and he will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows to him.
22:28  You will succeed in whatever you choose to do, and light will shine on the road ahead of you.
22:29  If people are in trouble and you say, 'Help them,' God will save them.
22:30  Even sinners will be rescued; they will be rescued because your hands are pure."