Job 22 — T4T

Eliphaz replied again

22Verse 1Then Eliphaz replied,^{Verse 2}“◄Can anyone be useful to God?/Certainly no one can be useful to God.► [RHQ]Even people who are wise cannot be helpful to God.^{Verse 3}If you were righteous, ◄would that benefit Almighty God?/that certainly would not benefit Almighty God.► [RHQ]If you had ◄lived a perfect life/never done anything that is wrong►, would that help him?^{Verse 4}“Is it because you have an awesome respect for God that he punishes you?Is that the reason that he puts you on trial?^{Verse 5}No, it certainly must be [RHQ] because you are extremely wicked.It must be that the evil things that you have done are so many that no one can count them!^{Verse 6}You must have lent money to others and wrongly forced them to give you things to guarantee that they would pay that money back to you;you must have taken all their clothes and left them with nothing to wear.^{Verse 7}You must not have given water to those who were thirsty,and you must have refused to give food to those who were hungry.^{Verse 8}Because you were very powerful, you must have taken over all the people’s land,and then, being very respected, you have begun to live on that land.^{Verse 9}When widows came to you for help, you must have sent them away without giving them anything,and you must have oppressed orphans.^{Verse 10}Because of all that, now there are pits around you for you to fall into,and suddenly there are things that terrify you and cause you to tremble.^{Verse 11}It is as though it has become very dark, with the result that you cannot see anything,and it is as though [MET] a flood covers you.^{Verse 12}“But consider this, Job: God lives [RHQ] high up in the heavens.From there he [RHQ] looks down on the highest stars.^{Verse 13}So why do you say, ‘What does God know about what we are doing?He is hidden from us by dark clouds, so ◄how can he judge us?/he certainly cannot judge us.► [RHQ]’^{Verse 14}Do you think that while he walks on the dome that covers the sky,there are thick clouds around him, with the result that he cannot see what we do?^{Verse 15}Will you continue to conduct your life the old waythat evil people have done for many years?^{Verse 16}They suddenly died while they were still young;they disappeared like everything disappears when there is a flood [MET].^{Verse 17}They kept saying to God, ‘Do not bother us,’and they also said defiantly, ‘Almighty God can do nothing [RHQ] to harm us!’^{Verse 18}But it was God who filled their houses with good things,so I cannot at all understand why wicked people think like they do.^{Verse 19}“But when God punishes wicked people, and righteous people see that, they are glad,and they laugh, ridiculing the wicked people.^{Verse 20}They say, ‘Now our enemies have been destroyed,and all their possessions that were left have been burned in a fire.’^{Verse 21}“So, Job, be reconciled to God and make peace with him;if you do that, good things will happen to you.^{Verse 22}Allow him to teach you,and keep thinking about what he has told you.^{Verse 23}If you humble yourself and return to God,if you stop doing all the evil things that you have been doing in your house,^{Verse 24}if you throw away your gold,even the fine gold from the dry stream beds in Ophir land,^{Verse 25}and if you allow Almighty God to be as precious to you as your gold and your silver have been,
^{Verse 26}you will be happy because of your close relationship with God,and you will be able to approach him [IDM] confidently.^{Verse 27}You will pray to him, and he will do what you request him to do;you will do the things that you promised him that you would do.^{Verse 28}Everything that you decide to do will be successful;it will be as though a light is shining on the road in front of you.^{Verse 29}God humbles those who are proud,but he saves those who are downcast/discouraged.^{Verse 30}God rescues those who ◄are innocent/have not done things that are wrong►,so he will rescue you if you ◄start doing things that are right/are not guilty [IDM] of doing things that are wrong►.”