22:1 Then Eliphaz the Themanite answered, and said:

22:2 Can man be compared with God, even though he were of perfect knowledge?

22:3 What doth it profit God if thou be just? or what dost thou give him if thy way be unspotted?

22:4 Shall he reprove thee for fear, and come with thee into judgment:

22:5 And not for thy manifold wickedness and thy infinite iniquities?

22:6 For thou hast taken away the pledge of thy brethren without cause, and stripped the naked of their clothing.

22:7 Thou hast not given water to the weary, thou hast withdrawn bread from the hungry.

22:8 In the strength of thy arm thou didst possess the land, and being the most mighty thou holdest it.

22:9 Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless thou hast broken in pieces.

22:10 Therefore art thou surrounded with shares, and sudden fear troubleth thee.

22:11 And didst thou think that thou shouldst not see darkness, and that thou shouldst not be covered with the violence of overflowing waters?

22:12 Dost not thou think that God is higher than heaven, and is elevated above the height of the stars?

22:13 And thou sayst: What doth God know? and he judgeth as it were through a mist.

22:14 The clouds are his covert, and he doth not consider our things, and he walketh about the poles of heaven.

22:15 Dost thou desire to keep the path of ages, which wicked men have trodden?

22:16 Who were taken away before their time, and a flood hath overthrown their foundation.

22:17 Who said to God: Depart from us: and looked upon the Almighty as if he could do nothing:

22:18 Whereas he had filled their houses with good things: whose way of thinking be far from me.

22:19 The just shall see, and shall rejoice, and the innocent shall laugh them to scorn.

22:20 Is not their exaltation cut down, and hath not fire devoured the remnants of them?

22:21 Submit thyself then to him, and be at peace: and thereby thou shalt have the best fruits.

22:22 Receive the law of his mouth, and lay up his words in thy heart.

22:23 If thou wilt return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, and shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacle.

22:24 He shall give for earth flint, and for flint torrents of gold.

22:25 And the Almighty shall be against thy enemies, and silver shall be heaped together for thee.

22:26 Then shalt thou abound in delights in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face to God.

22:27 Thou shalt pray to him, and he will hear thee, and thou shalt pay vows.

22:28 Thou shalt decree a thing, and it shall come to thee, and light shall shine in thy ways.

22:29 For he that hath been humbled, shall be in glory: and he that shall bow down his eyes, he shall be saved.

22:30 The innocent shall be saved, and he shall be saved by the cleanness of his hands.