Job 22

²“Can a mortal be of use to God?

Can even the wisest be of service to him?

³Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are righteous,

or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless?

⁴Is it for your piety that he reproves you,

and enters into judgment with you?

⁵Is not your wickedness great?

There is no end to your iniquities.

⁶For you have exacted pledges from your family for no reason,

and stripped the naked of their clothing.

⁷You have given no water to the weary to drink,

and you have withheld bread from the hungry.

⁸The powerful possess the land,

and the favored live in it.

⁹You have sent widows away empty-handed,

and the arms of the orphans you have crushed.

¹⁰Therefore snares are around you,

and sudden terror overwhelms you,

¹¹or darkness so that you cannot see;

a flood of water covers you.

¹²“Is not God high in the heavens?

See the highest stars, how lofty they are!

¹³Therefore you say, ‘What does God know?

Can he judge through the deep darkness?

¹⁴Thick clouds enwrap him, so that he does not see,

and he walks on the dome of heaven.’

¹⁵Will you keep to the old way

that the wicked have trod?

¹⁶They were snatched away before their time;

their foundation was washed away by a flood.

¹⁷They said to God, ‘Leave us alone,’

and ‘What can the Almighty do to us?’

¹⁸Yet he filled their houses with good things—

but the plans of the wicked are repugnant to me.

¹⁹The righteous see it and are glad;

the innocent laugh them to scorn,

²⁰saying, ‘Surely our adversaries are cut off,

and what they left, the fire has consumed.’

²¹“Agree with God, and be at peace;

in this way good will come to you.

²²Receive instruction from his mouth,

and lay up his words in your heart.

²³If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored,

if you remove unrighteousness from your tents,

²⁴if you treat gold like dust,

and gold of Ophir like the stones of the torrent-bed,

²⁵and if the Almighty is your gold

and your precious silver,

²⁶then you will delight yourself in the Almighty,

and lift up your face to God.

²⁷You will pray to him, and he will hear you,

and you will pay your vows.

²⁸You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you,

and light will shine on your ways.

²⁹When others are humiliated, you say it is pride;

for he saves the humble.

³⁰He will deliver even those who are guilty;

they will escape because of the cleanness of your hands.”