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22:1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered: 22:2 "Can a mortal be of use to God? Can even the wisest be of service to him? 22:3 Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are righteous, or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless? 22:4 Is it for your piety that he reproves you, and enters into judgment with you? 22:5 Is not your wickedness great? There is no end to your iniquities. 22:6 For you have exacted pledges from your family for no reason, 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 powerful possess the land, and the favored live in it. 22:9 You have sent widows away empty-handed, and the arms of the orphans you have crushed. 22:10 Therefore snares are around you, and sudden terror overwhelms you, 22:11 or darkness so that you cannot see; 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 Therefore you say, 'What does God know? Can he judge through the deep darkness? 22:14 Thick clouds enwrap him, so that he does not see, and he walks on the dome of heaven.' 22:15 Will you keep to the old way that the wicked have trod? 22:16 They were snatched away before their time; their foundation was washed away by a flood. 22:17 They said to God, 'Leave us alone,' and 'What can the Almighty do to us?' 22:18 Yet he filled their houses with good things-- but the plans of the wicked are repugnant to me. 22:19 The righteous see it and are glad; the innocent laugh them to scorn, 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; in this way 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 restored, if you remove unrighteousness from your tents, 22:24 if you treat gold like dust, and gold of Ophir like the stones of the torrent-bed, 22:25 and if the Almighty is your gold and your precious silver, 22:26 then you will delight yourself in the Almighty, and lift up your face to God. 22:27 You will pray 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 When others are humiliated, you say it is pride; for he saves the humble. 22:30 He will deliver even those who are guilty; they will escape because of the cleanness of your hands."