Job 22:1-16 ▼

1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:

2 “Can a man be of use to God? Can even a wise man benefit Him?

3 Does it delight the Almighty that you are righteous? Does He profit if your ways are blameless?

4 Is it for your reverence that He rebukes you and enters into judgment against you?

5 Is not your wickedness great? Are not your iniquities endless?

6 For you needlessly demanded security from your brothers and deprived the naked of their clothing.

7 You gave no water to the weary and withheld food from the famished,

8 while the land belonged to a mighty man, and a man of honor lived on it.

9 You sent widows away empty-handed, and the strength of the fatherless was crushed.

10 Therefore snares surround you, and sudden peril terrifies you;

11 it is so dark you cannot see, and a flood of water covers you.

12 Is not God as high as the heavens? Look at the highest stars, how lofty they are!

13 Yet you say: ‘What does God know? Does He judge through thick darkness?

14 Thick clouds veil Him so He does not see us as He traverses the vault of heaven.’

15 Will you stay on the ancient path that wicked men have trod?

16 They were snatched away before their time, and their foundations were swept away by a flood.