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