Chapter 22

  Then Eliphaz the Themanite answered, and said:  

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

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

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

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  And not for thy manifold wickedness, and thy infinite iniquities?  

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

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  Thou hast not given water to the weary, thou hast withdrawn bread from the hungry.  

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

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

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  Therefore art thou surrounded with snares, and sudden fear troubleth thee.  

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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