22 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered [Job],

² Can a man be profitable to God? Surely he that is wise is profitable to himself.^(A)

³ Is it any pleasure or advantage to the Almighty that you are righteous (upright and in right standing with Him)? Or is it gain to Him that you make your ways perfect?^(B)

⁴ Is it for your [reverential] fear of Him that He [thus] reproves you, that He enters with you into judgment?

⁵ Is not your wickedness great? There is no end to your iniquities.

⁶ For you have taken pledges of your brother for nothing, and stripped the naked of their clothing.

⁷ You have not given water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry.^(C)

⁸ But [you, Job] the man with power possessed the land, and the favored and accepted man dwelt in it.

⁹ You have sent widows away empty-handed, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.

¹⁰ Therefore snares are round about you, and sudden fear troubles and overwhelms you;

¹¹ Your light is darkened, so that you cannot see, and a flood of water covers you.

¹² Is not God in the height of heaven? And behold the height of the stars, how high they are!

¹³ Therefore you say, How and what does God know [about me]? Can He judge through the thick darkness?

¹⁴ Thick clouds are a covering to Him, so that He does not see, and He walks on the vault of the heavens.

¹⁵ Will you pay attention and keep to the old way that wicked men trod [in Noah’s time],^(D)

¹⁶ Men who were snatched away before their time, whose foundations were poured out like a stream [during the flood]?

¹⁷ They said to God, Depart from us, and, What can the Almighty do for or to us?

¹⁸ Yet He filled their houses with good [things]. But the counsel of the ungodly is far from me.

¹⁹ The righteous see it and are glad; and the innocent laugh them to scorn [saying],

²⁰ Surely those who rose up against us are cut off, and that which remained to them the fire has consumed.

²¹ Acquaint now yourself with Him [agree with God and show yourself to be conformed to His will] and be at peace; by that [you shall prosper and great] good shall come to you.

²² Receive, I pray you, the law and instruction from His mouth and lay up His words in your heart.^(E)

²³ If you return to the Almighty [and submit and humble yourself before Him], you will be built up; if you put away unrighteousness far from your tents,

²⁴ If you lay gold in the dust, and the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brook [considering them of little worth],

²⁵ And make the Almighty your gold and [the Lord] your precious silver treasure,

²⁶ Then you will have delight in the Almighty, and you will lift up your face to God.

²⁷ You will make your prayer to Him, and He will hear you, and you will pay your vows.

²⁸ You shall also decide and decree a thing, and it shall be established for you; and the light [of God’s favor] shall shine upon your ways.

²⁹ When they make [you] low, you will say, [There is] a lifting up; and the humble person He lifts up and saves.

³⁰ He will even deliver the one [for whom you intercede] who is not innocent; yes, he will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.^(F)