Job 22–24: Eliphaz Invents the Charges, and Job Searches for the Missing Judge
Scripture: Berean Standard Bible
Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:
“Can a man be of use to God?Can even a wise man benefit him?Does it delight the Almighty that you are righteous?Does he profit if your ways are blameless?
Is it for your reverence that he rebukes youand enters into judgment against you?Is not your wickedness great?Are not your iniquities endless?For you needlessly demanded security from your brothersand deprived the naked of their clothing.You gave no water to the wearyand withheld food from the famished,while the land belonged to a mighty man,and a man of honor lived on it.You sent widows away empty-handed,and the strength of the fatherless was crushed.Therefore snares surround you,and sudden peril terrifies you;it is so dark you cannot see,and a flood of water covers you.
Is not God as high as the heavens?Look at the highest stars, how lofty they are!Yet you say: ‘What does God know?Does he judge through thick darkness?Thick clouds veil him so he does not see usas he traverses the vault of heaven.’
Will you stay on the ancient paththat wicked men have trod?They were snatched away before their time,and their foundations were swept away by a flood.They said to God, ‘Depart from us.What can the Almighty do to us?’But it was he who filled their houses with good things;so I stay far from the counsel of the wicked.The righteous see it and are glad;the innocent mock them:‘Surely our foes are destroyed,and fire has consumed their excess.’
Reconcile now and be at peace with him;thereby good will come to you.Receive instruction from his mouth,and lay up his words in your heart.If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored.If you remove injustice from your tentsand consign your gold to the dustand the gold of Ophir to the stones of the ravines,then the Almighty will be your goldand the finest silver for you.Surely then you will delight in the Almightyand lift up your face to God.You will pray to him, and he will hear you,and you will fulfill your vows.Your decisions will be carried out,and light will shine on your ways.When men are brought low and you say, ‘Lift them up!’then he will save the lowly.He will deliver even one who is not innocent,rescuing him through the cleanness of your hands.”
Then Job answered:
“Even today my complaint is bitter.His hand is heavy despite my groaning.If only I knew where to find him,so that I could go to his seat.I would plead my case before himand fill my mouth with arguments.I would learn how he would answer,and consider what he would say.Would he contend with me in his great power?No, he would certainly take note of me.Then an upright man could reason with him,and I would be delivered forever from my Judge.
If I go east, he is not there,and if I go west, I cannot find him.When he is at work in the north, I cannot behold him;when he turns to the south, I cannot see him.Yet he knows the way I have taken;when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.My feet have followed in his tracks;I have kept his way without turning aside.I have not departed from the command of his lips;I have treasured the words of his mouthmore than my daily bread.
But he is unchangeable, and who can oppose him?He does what he desires.For he carries out his decree against me,and he has many such plans.Therefore I am terrified in his presence;when I consider this, I fear him.God has made my heart faint;the Almighty has terrified me.Yet I am not silenced by the darkness,by the thick darkness that covers my face.“Why does the Almighty not reserve times for judgment?Why may those who know him never see his days?Men move boundary stones;they pasture stolen flocks.They drive away the donkey of the fatherlessand take the widow’s ox in pledge.They push the needy off the roadand force all the poor of the land into hiding.
Indeed, like wild donkeys in the desert,the poor go to work foraging for food;the wasteland is food for their children.They gather fodder in the fieldsand glean the vineyards of the wicked.Without clothing, they spend the night naked;they have no covering against the cold.Drenched by mountain rains,they huddle against the rocks for want of shelter.
The fatherless infant is snatched from the breast;the nursing child of the poor is seized for a debt.Without clothing, they wander about naked.They carry the sheaves, but still go hungry.They crush olives within their walls;they tread the winepresses, but go thirsty.From the city, men groan,and the souls of the wounded cry out,yet God charges no one with wrongdoing.
Then there are those who rebel against the light,not knowing its ways or staying on its paths.When daylight is gone, the murderer risesto kill the poor and needy;in the night he is like a thief.The eye of the adulterer watches for twilight.Thinking, ‘No eye will see me,’ he covers his face.In the dark they dig through houses;by day they shut themselves in,never to experience the light.For to them, deep darkness is their morning;surely they are friends with the terrors of darkness!
They are but foam on the surface of the water;their portion of the land is cursed,so that no one turns toward their vineyards.As drought and heat consume the melting snow,so Sheol steals those who have sinned.The womb forgets them;the worm feeds on them;they are remembered no more.So injustice is like a broken tree.They prey on the barren and childless,and show no kindness to the widow.
Yet by his power, God drags away the mighty;though rising up, they have no assurance of life.He gives them a sense of security,but his eyes are on their ways.They are exalted for a moment,then they are gone;they are brought low and gathered up like all others;they are cut off like heads of grain.If this is not so, then who can prove me a liarand reduce my words to nothing?”