GodsWord - Job - 22

22:1  Then Eliphaz from Teman replied to Job,

22:2  "Can a human be of any use to God when even a wise person is only useful to himself?

22:3  Is the Almighty pleased when you are righteous? Does he gain anything when you follow the path of integrity?

22:4  Does God correct you and bring you into a court of law because you fear him?

22:5  "Aren't you really very wicked? Is there no end to your wrongdoing?

22:6  For no reason you take your brothers' goods as security for a loan and strip them of their clothes.

22:7  You don't even give a tired person a drink of water, and you take food away from hungry people.

22:8  A strong person owns the land. A privileged person lives in it.

22:9  You send widows away empty-handed, and the arms of orphans are broken.

22:10  That is why traps are all around you and great fear suddenly grips you.

22:11  That is why darkness surrounds you and you cannot see and a flood of water covers you.

22:12  "Isn't God high above in the heavens? Look how high the highest stars are!

22:13  You ask, 'What does God know? Can he judge anything from behind a dark cloud?

22:14  Thick clouds surround him so that he cannot see. He walks above the clouds.'

22:15  "Are you following the old path that wicked people have taken?

22:16  They are snatched up before their time. A river washes their foundation away.

22:17  They told God, 'Leave us alone! What can the Almighty do for us?'

22:18  Yet, he filled their homes with good things. (The plan of the wicked is foreign to my way of thinking.)

22:19  The righteous saw it and were glad, and the innocent made fun of them by saying,

22:20  'Indeed, their wealth has been wiped out, and a fire has burned up what little they had left.'

22:21  "Be in harmony and at peace with God. In this way you will have prosperity.

22:22  Accept instruction from his mouth, and keep his words in your heart.

22:23  If you return to the Almighty, you will prosper. If you put wrongdoing out of your tent,

22:24  and lay your gold down in the dust, and put your gold from Ophir among the pebbles in the rivers,

22:25  then the Almighty will become your gold and your large supply of silver.

22:26  Then you will be happy with the Almighty and look up toward God.

22:27  You will pray to him, and he will listen to you, and you will keep your vow to him.

22:28  When you promise to do something, you will succeed, and light will shine on your path.

22:29  When others are discouraged, you will say, 'Cheer up!' Then he will save the humble person.

22:30  He will rescue one who is not innocent. That person will be rescued by your purity."