22:1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:
22:2 “Is it to God that a strong man is of benefit? Is it to him that even a wise man is profitable?
22:3 Is it of any special benefit to the Almighty that you should be righteous, or is it any gain to him that you make your ways blameless?
22:4 Is it because of your piety that he rebukes you and goes to judgment with you?
22:5 Is not your wickedness great and is there no end to your iniquity?
22:6 “For you took pledges from your brothers for no reason, and you stripped the clothing from the naked.
22:7 You gave the weary no water to drink and from the hungry you withheld food.
22:8 Although you were a powerful man, owning land, an honored man living on it,
22:9 you sent widows away empty-handed, and the arms of the orphans are crushed.
22:10 That is why snares surround you, and why sudden fear terrifies you,
22:11 why it is so dark you cannot see, and why a flood of water covers you.
22:12 “Is not God on high in heaven? And see the lofty stars, how high they are!
22:13 But you have said, ‘What does God know? Does he judge through such deep darkness?
22:14 Thick clouds are a veil for him, so he does not see us, as he goes back and forth in the vault of heaven.’
22:15 Will you keep to the old path that evil men have walked —
22:16 men who were carried off before their time, when the flood was poured out on their foundations?
22:17 They were saying to God, ‘Turn away from us,’ and ‘What can the Almighty do to us?’