איוב כב

Eliphaz the Temanite said in reply:

Can an individual be of use to God,
An intellect provide benefit?

Does Shaddai gain if you are righteous,
Or profit if your conduct is blameless?

Is it because of your piety that you are arraigned,
And entered into God’s judgment?

You know that your wickedness is great,
And that your iniquities have no limit.

You exact pledges from your fellows without reason,
And leave them naked, stripped of their clothes;

You do not give the thirsty water to drink;
You deny bread to the hungry.

The land belongs to the strong;
The privileged occupy it.

You have sent away widows empty-handed;
The strength of the fatherless is broken.

Therefore snares are all around you,
And sudden terrors frighten you,

Or darkness, so you cannot see;
A flood of waters covers you.

God is in the heavenly heights;
See the highest stars, how lofty!

You say, “What can God know?
Is it possible to govern through the dense cloud?

The clouds form an opaque screen
As [God] moves about the circuit of heaven.”

Have you observed the immemorial path
That evildoers have trodden;

How they were shriveled up before their time
And their foundation poured out like a river?

They said to God, “Leave us alone;
What can Shaddai do about it?”

But it was this One who filled their houses with good things.
(The thoughts of the wicked are beyond me!)

The righteous, seeing the fate of the wicked, rejoiced;
The innocent laughed with scorn.

Surely their substance was destroyed,
And their remnant consumed by fire.

Be close to [God] and wholehearted;
Good things will come to you thereby.

Accept instruction from God’s mouth;
Lay up those words in your heart.

If you return to Shaddai you will be restored,
If you banish iniquity from your tent;

If you regard treasure as dirt,
Ophir-gold as stones of the wadi,

And Shaddai be your treasure
And precious silver for you,

When you seek the favor of Shaddai,
And lift up your face to God,

You will offer prayer, and be heard,
And you will pay your vows.

You will decree and it will be fulfilled,
And light will shine upon your affairs.

When others sink low, you will say it is pride;
For [God] saves the humble.

The guilty will be delivered—
Through the cleanness of your hands.