Job 22

₂“Can a man be profitable to God?

Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself.

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

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

₄Is it for your fear of him that he reproves you

and enters into judgment with you?

₅Is not your evil abundant?

There is no end to your iniquities.

₆For you have exacted pledges of your brothers for nothing

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 man with power possessed the land,

and the favored man lived in it.

₉You have sent widows away empty,

and the arms of the fatherless were crushed.

₁₀Therefore snares are all around you,

and sudden terror overwhelms you,

₁₁or darkness, so that you cannot see,

and a flood of water covers you.

₁₂“Is not God high in the heavens?

See the highest stars, how lofty they are!

₁₃But you say, ‘What does God know?

Can he judge through the deep darkness?

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

and he walks on the vault of heaven.’

₁₅Will you keep to the old way

that wicked men have trod?

₁₆They were snatched away before their time;

their foundation was washed away.

₁₇They said to God, ‘Depart from us,’

and ‘What can the Almighty do to us?’

₁₈Yet he filled their houses with good things—

but the counsel of the wicked is far from me.

₁₉The righteous see it and are glad;

the innocent one mocks at them,

₂₀saying, ‘Surely our adversaries are cut off,

and what they left the fire has consumed.’

₂₁“Agree with God, and be at peace;

thereby 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 built up;

if you remove injustice far from your tents,

₂₄if you lay gold in the dust,

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

₂₅then the Almighty will be your gold

and your precious silver.

₂₆For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty

and lift up your face to God.

₂₇You will make your prayer 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.

₂₉For when they are humbled you say, ‘It is because of pride’;

but he saves the lowly.

₃₀He delivers even the one who is not innocent,

who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.”