Job 22:1-18

Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered: “Is it to God that a strong man is of benefit? Is it to him that even a wise man is profitable? 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? Is it because of your piety that he rebukes you and goes to judgment with you? Is not your wickedness great and is there no end to your iniquity? “For you took pledges from your brothers for no reason, and you stripped the clothing from the naked. You gave the weary no water to drink and from the hungry you withheld food. Although you were a powerful man, owning land, an honored man living on it, you sent widows away empty-handed, and the arms of the orphans you crushed. That is why snares surround you, and why sudden fear terrifies you, why it is so dark you cannot see, and why a flood of water covers you. “Is not God on high in heaven? And see the lofty stars, how high they are! But you have said, ‘What does God know? Does he judge through such deep darkness? Thick clouds are a veil for him, so he does not see us, as he goes back and forth in the vault of heaven.’ Will you keep to the old path that evil men have walked – men who were carried off before their time, when the flood was poured out on their foundations? They were saying to God, ‘Turn away from us,’ and ‘What can the Almighty do to us?’ But it was he who filled their houses with good things – yet the counsel of the wicked was far from me.