22:1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said: 22:2 "Can a man be profitable to God Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself. 22:3 Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are in the right, or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless 22:4 Is it for your fear of him that he reproves you and enters into judgment with you 22:5 Is not your evil abundant There is no end to your iniquities. 22:6 For you have exacted pledges of your brothers for nothing and stripped the naked of their clothing. 22:7 You have given no water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry. 22:8 The man with power possessed the land, and the favored man lived in it. 22:9 You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless were crushed. 22:10 Therefore snares are all around you, and sudden terror overwhelms you, 22:11 or darkness, so that you cannot see, and a flood of water covers you. 22:12 "Is not God high in the heavens See the highest stars, how lofty they are! 22:13 But you say, 'What does God know Can he judge through the deep darkness 22:14 Thick clouds veil him, so that he does not see, and he walks on the vault of heaven.' 22:15 Will you keep to the old way that wicked men have trod 22:16 They were snatched away before their time; their foundation was washed away. 22:17 They said to God, 'Depart from us,' and 'What can the Almighty do to us' 22:18 Yet he filled their houses with good things-- but the counsel of the wicked is far from me. 22:19 The righteous see it and are glad; the innocent one mocks at them, 22:20 saying, 'Surely our adversaries are cut off, and what they left the fire has consumed.' 22:21 "Agree with God, and be at peace; thereby good will come to you. 22:22 Receive instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in your heart. 22:23 If you return to the Almighty you will be built up; if you remove injustice far from your tents, 22:24 if you lay gold in the dust, and gold of Ophir among the stones of the torrent-bed, 22:25 then the Almighty will be your gold and your precious silver. 22:26 For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty and lift up your face to God. 22:27 You will make your prayer to him, and he will hear you, and you will pay your vows. 22:28 You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you, and light will shine on your ways. 22:29 For when they are humbled you say, 'It is because of pride'; but he saves the lowly. 22:30 He delivers even the one who is not innocent, who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands."