Job 22:1-30 - Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

¹ Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,

² Can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself?

³ Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that thou art righteous? or is it gain to him, that thou makest thy ways perfect?

⁴ Will he reprove thee for fear of thee? will he enter with thee into judgment?

⁵ Is not thy wickedness great? and thine iniquities infinite?

⁶ For thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought, and stripped the nakeda of their clothing.

⁷ Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink, and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry.

⁸ But as for the mightyb man, he had the earth; and the honourable man dwelt in it.

⁹ Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.

¹⁰ Therefore snares are round about thee, and sudden fear troubleth thee;

¹¹ Or darkness, that thou canst not see; and abundance of waters cover thee.

¹² Is not God in the height of heaven? and behold the height of the stars,c how high they are!

¹³ And thou sayest, How doth God know? can he judge through the dark cloud?

¹⁴ Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not; and he walketh in the circuit of heaven.

¹⁵ Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden?

¹⁶ Which were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood:

¹⁷ Which said unto God, Depart from us: and what can the Almighty do for them?

¹⁸ Yet he filled their houses with good things: but the counsel of the wicked is far from me.

¹⁹ The righteous see it, and are glad: and the innocent laugh them to scorn.

²⁰ Whereas our substanced is not cut down, but the remnant of them the fire consumeth.

²¹ Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace:e thereby good shall come unto thee.

²² Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart.

²³ If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles.

²⁴ Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust,f and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks.

²⁵ Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defence,g and thou shalt have plenty of silver.

²⁶ For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face unto God.

²⁷ Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he shall hear thee, and thou shalt pay thy vows.

²⁸ Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways.

²⁹ When men are cast down, then thou shalt say, There is lifting up; and he shall save the humbleh person.

³⁰ He shall deliver the island of the innocent: and it is delivered by the pureness of thine hands.