Job 22

2 Can a man be of any use to God?
Can even a wise man be of use to Him?
3 Does it delight the ^{▼▼God Almighty: The Hebrew word is El Shaddai; El = "God," but the meaning of Shaddai is disputed; traditionally it is translated "Almighty".}Almighty if you are righteous?
Does He profit if you perfect your behavior? ^b

4 Does He correct you and take you to court
because of your piety? ^c
5 Isn’t your wickedness abundant
and aren’t your iniquities endless?
6 For you took collateral ^d from your brothers without cause,
stripping off their clothes and leaving them naked.
7 You gave no water to the thirsty
and withheld food from the famished, ^e
8 while the land belonged to a powerful man
and an influential man lived on it.
9 You sent widows away empty-handed,
and the strength of the fatherless ^f was ^{▼▼LXX, Syr, Vg, Tg read you have} crushed.
10 Therefore snares surround you,
and sudden dread terrifies ^h you,
11 or darkness, so you cannot see,
and a flood of water covers you. ⁱ

12 Isn’t God as high as the heavens?
And look at the highest stars – how lofty they are!
13 Yet you say: “What does God know?
Can He judge through thick darkness? ^j
14 Clouds ^k veil Him so that He cannot see,
as He walks on the circle of the sky.”
15 Will you continue on the ancient path
that wicked men have walked?
16 They were snatched away before their time,
and their foundations ^l were washed away by a river.
17 They were the ones who said to God, “Leave us alone!”
and “What can the Almighty do to us?” ^{▼▼LXX, Syr; MT reads him
,} ⁿ
18 But it was He who filled their houses with good things.
The counsel of the wicked is far from me!
19 The righteous see this and rejoice;
the innocent mock them, saying, ^o
20 “Surely our opponents are destroyed,
and fire has consumed what they left behind.” ^p

21 Come to terms with God and be at peace; ^q
in this way ^{▼▼Lit peace; by them} good will come to you.
22 Receive instruction from His mouth, ^s
and place His sayings ^t in your heart.
23 If you return ^u to the Almighty, you will be renewed.
If you banish injustice from your tent
24 and consign your gold to the dust,
the gold of Ophir ^v to the stones in the ^{▼▼wadi: A seasonal stream that flows only in the rainy season}wadis,
25 the Almighty will be your gold
and your finest silver.
26 Then you will delight ^x in the Almighty
and lift up your face to God. ^y
27 You will pray to Him, and He will hear you, ^z
and you will fulfill your vows.
28 When you make a decision, it will be carried out, ^{▼▼Lit out for you}
and light will shine on your ways. ^ab
29 When others are humiliated and you say, “Lift them up,”
God will save the humble. ^{▼▼Lit bowed of eyes
,} ^ad
30 He will even rescue the ^{▼▼guilt/guilty: The liability to be punished for a fault, a sin, an act, or an omission unless there is forgiveness or atonement; the term normally concerns an objective fact, not a subjective feeling.}guilty one,
who will be rescued by the purity of your hands. ^af