Book - Job - Chapter = 22 --> NLT
-
Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:
-
"Can a person's actions be of benefit to God? Can even a wise person be helpful to him?
-
Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are righteous? Would it be any gain to him if you were perfect?
-
Is it because of your reverence for him that he accuses and judges you?
-
Not at all! It is because of your wickedness! Your guilt has no limit!
-
"For example, you must have lent money to your friend and then kept the clothing he gave you as a pledge. Yes, you stripped him to the bone.
-
You must have refused water for the thirsty and food for the hungry.
-
After all, you think the land belongs to the powerful and that those who are privileged have a right to it!
-
You must have sent widows away without helping them and crushed the strength of orphans.
-
That is why you are surrounded by traps and sudden fears.
-
That is why you cannot see in the darkness, and waves of water cover you.
-
"God is so great--higher than the heavens, higher than the farthest stars.
-
But you reply, `That's why God can't see what I am doing! How can he judge through the thick darkness?
-
For thick clouds swirl about him, and he cannot see us. He is way up there, walking on the vault of heaven.'
-
"Will you continue on the old paths where evil people have walked?
-
They were snatched away in the prime of life, and the foundations of their lives were washed away forever.
-
For they said to God, `Leave us alone! What can the Almighty do for us?'
-
But they forgot that he had filled their homes with good things, so I will have nothing to do with that kind of thinking.
-
"Now the righteous will be happy to see the wicked destroyed, and the innocent will laugh them to scorn.
-
They will say, `Surely our enemies have been destroyed. The last of them have been consumed in the fire.'
-
"Stop quarreling with God! If you agree with him, you will have peace at last, and things will go well for you.
-
Listen to his instructions, and store them in your heart.
-
If you return to the Almighty and clean up your life, you will be restored.
-
Give up your lust for money, and throw your precious gold into the river.
-
Then the Almighty himself will be your treasure. He will be your precious silver!
-
"Then you will delight yourself in the Almighty and look up to God.
-
You will pray to him, and he will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows to him.
-
Whatever you decide to do will be accomplished, and light will shine on the road ahead of you.
-
If someone is brought low and you say, `Help him up,' God will save the downcast.
-
Then even sinners will be rescued by your pure hands."