2“Can a man be of benefit to God?

Can even a wise person benefit him?

3What pleasure would it give the Almighty if you were righteous?

What would he gain if your ways were blameless?

4“Is it for your piety that he rebukes you

and brings charges against you?

5Is not your wickedness great?

Are not your sins endless?

6You demanded security from your relatives for no reason;

you stripped people of their clothing, leaving them naked.

7You gave no water to the weary

and you withheld food from the hungry,

8though you were a powerful man, owning land—

an honored man, living on it.

9And you sent widows away empty-handed

and broke the strength of the fatherless.

10That is why snares are all around you,

why sudden peril terrifies you,

11why it is so dark you cannot see,

and why a flood of water covers you.

12“Is not God in the heights of heaven?

And see how lofty are the highest stars!

13Yet you say, ‘What does God know?

Does he judge through such darkness?

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

as he goes about in the vaulted heavens.’

15Will you keep to the old path

that the wicked have trod?

16They were carried off before their time,

their foundations washed away by a flood.

17They said to God, ‘Leave us alone!

What can the Almighty do to us?’

18Yet it was he who filled their houses with good things,

so I stand aloof from the plans of the wicked.

19The righteous see their ruin and rejoice;

the innocent mock them, saying,

20‘Surely our foes are destroyed,

and fire devours their wealth.’

21“Submit to God and be at peace with him;

in this way prosperity will come to you.

22Accept 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 wickedness far from your tent

24and assign your nuggets to the dust,

your gold of Ophir to the rocks in the ravines,

25then the Almighty will be your gold,

the choicest silver for you.

26Surely then you will find delight in the Almighty

and will lift up your face to God.

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

and you will fulfill your vows.

28What you decide on will be done,

and light will shine on your ways.

29When people are brought low and you say, ‘Lift them up!’

then he will save the downcast.

30He will deliver even one who is not innocent,

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