Job 22-27

New King James Version

² “Can^(B) a man be profitable to God,
Though he who is wise may be profitable to himself?
³ Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that you are righteous?
Or is it gain to Him that you make your ways blameless?

⁴ “Is it because of your fear of Him that He corrects you,
And enters into judgment with you?
⁵ Is not your wickedness great,
And your iniquity without end?
⁶ For you have ^(C)taken pledges from your brother for no reason,
And stripped the naked of their clothing.
⁷ You have not given the weary water to drink,
And you ^(D)have withheld bread from the hungry.
⁸ But the ^[a]mighty man possessed the land,
And the honorable man dwelt in it.
⁹ You have sent widows away empty,
And the ^[b]strength of the fatherless was crushed.
¹⁰ Therefore snares are all around you,
And sudden fear troubles you,
¹¹ Or darkness so that you cannot see;
And an abundance of ^(E)water covers you.

¹² “Is not God in the height of heaven?
And see the highest stars, how lofty they are!
¹³ And you say, ^(F)‘What does God know?
Can He judge through the deep darkness?
^14 (G)Thick clouds cover Him, so that He cannot see,
And He walks above the circle of heaven.’
¹⁵ Will you keep to the old way
Which wicked men have trod,
¹⁶ Who ^(H)were cut down before their time,
Whose foundations were swept away by a flood?
^17 (I)They said to God, ‘Depart from us!
What can the Almighty do to ^[c]them?’
¹⁸ Yet He filled their houses with good things;
But the counsel of the wicked is far from me.

¹⁹ “The^(J) righteous see it and are glad,
And the innocent laugh at them:
²⁰ ‘Surely our ^[d]adversaries are cut down,
And the fire consumes their remnant.’

²¹ “Now acquaint yourself with Him, and ^(K)be at peace;
Thereby good will come to you.
²² Receive, please, ^(L)instruction from His mouth,
And ^(M)lay up His words in your heart.
²³ If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up;
You will remove iniquity far from your tents.
²⁴ Then you will ^(N)lay your gold in the dust,
And the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks.
²⁵ Yes, the Almighty will be your ^[e]gold
And your precious silver;
²⁶ For then you will have your ^(O)delight in the Almighty,
And lift up your face to God.
^27 (P)You will make your prayer to Him,
He will hear you,
And you will pay your vows.
²⁸ You will also declare a thing,
And it will be established for you;
So light will shine on your ways.
²⁹ When they cast you down, and you say, ‘Exaltation will come!’
Then ^(Q)He will save the humble person.
³⁰ He will even deliver one who is not innocent;
Yes, he will be delivered by the purity of your hands.”

² “Even today my ^(R)complaint is bitter;
^[f]My hand is listless because of my groaning.
^3 (S)Oh, that I knew where I might find Him,
That I might come to His seat!
⁴ I would present my case before Him,
And fill my mouth with arguments.
⁵ I would know the words which He would answer me,
And understand what He would say to me.
^6 (T)Would He contend with me in His great power?
No! But He would take note of me.
⁷ There the upright could reason with Him,
And I would be delivered forever from my Judge.

⁸ “Look,^(U) I go forward, but He is not there,
And backward, but I cannot perceive Him;
⁹ When He works on the left hand, I cannot behold Him;
When He turns to the right hand, I cannot see Him.
¹⁰ But ^(V)He knows the way that I take;
When ^(W)He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.
^11 (X)My foot has held fast to His steps;
I have kept His way and not turned aside.
¹² I have not departed from the ^(Y)commandment of His lips;
^(Z)I have treasured the words of His mouth
More than my ^[g]necessary food.

¹³ “But He is unique, and who can make Him change?
And whatever ^(AA)His soul desires, that He does.
¹⁴ For He performs what is ^(AB)appointed for me,
And many such things are with Him.
¹⁵ Therefore I am terrified at His presence;
When I consider this, I am afraid of Him.
¹⁶ For God ^(AC)made my heart weak,
And the Almighty terrifies me;
¹⁷ Because I was not ^(AD)cut off ^[h]from the presence of darkness,
And He did not hide deep darkness from my face.

² “Some remove ^(AG)landmarks;
They seize flocks violently and feed on them;
³ They drive away the donkey of the fatherless;
They ^(AH)take the widow’s ox as a pledge.
⁴ They push the needy off the road;
All the ^(AI)poor of the land are forced to hide.
⁵ Indeed, like wild donkeys in the desert,
They go out to their work, searching for food.
The wilderness yields food for them and for their children.
⁶ They gather their fodder in the field
And glean in the vineyard of the wicked.
⁷ They ^(AJ)spend the night naked, without clothing,
And have no covering in the cold.
⁸ They are wet with the showers of the mountains,
And ^(AK)huddle around the rock for want of shelter.

⁹ “Some snatch the fatherless from the breast,
And take a pledge from the poor.
¹⁰ They cause the poor to go naked, without ^(AL)clothing;
And they take away the sheaves from the hungry.
¹¹ They press out oil within their walls,
And tread winepresses, yet suffer thirst.
¹² The dying groan in the city,
And the souls of the wounded cry out;
Yet God does not charge them with wrong.

¹³ “There are those who rebel against the light;
They do not know its ways
Nor abide in its paths.
^14 (AM)The murderer rises with the light;
He kills the poor and needy;
And in the night he is like a thief.
^15 (AN)The eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight,
^(AO)Saying, ‘No eye will see me’;
And he ^[i]disguises his face.
¹⁶ In the dark they break into houses
Which they marked for themselves in the daytime;
^(AP)They do not know the light.
¹⁷ For the morning is the same to them as the shadow of death;
If someone recognizes them,
They are in the terrors of the shadow of death.

¹⁸ “They should be swift on the face of the waters,
Their portion should be cursed in the earth,
So that no one would turn into the way of their vineyards.
¹⁹ As drought and heat ^[j]consume the snow waters,
So ^[k]the grave consumes those who have sinned.
²⁰ The womb should forget him,
The worm should feed sweetly on him;
^(AQ)He should be remembered no more,
And wickedness should be broken like a tree.
²¹ For he ^[l]preys on the barren who do not bear,
And does no good for the widow.

²² “But God draws the mighty away with His power;
He rises up, but no man is sure of life.
²³ He gives them security, and they rely on it;
Yet ^(AR)His eyes are on their ways.
²⁴ They are exalted for a little while,
Then they are gone.
They are brought low;
They are ^[m]taken out of the way like all others;
They dry out like the heads of grain.

²⁵ “Now if it is not so, who will prove me a liar,
And make my speech worth nothing?”

² “Dominion and fear belong to Him;
He makes peace in His high places.
^3 [n]Is there any number to His armies?
Upon whom does ^(AT)His light not rise?
^4 (AU)How then can man be righteous before God?
Or how can he be ^(AV)pure who is born of a woman?
⁵ If even the moon does not shine,
And the stars are not pure in His ^(AW)sight,
⁶ How much less man, who is ^(AX)a maggot,
And a son of man, who is a worm?”

² “How have you helped him who is without power?
How have you saved the arm that has no strength?
³ How have you counseled one who has no wisdom?
And how have you declared sound advice to many?
⁴ To whom have you uttered words?
And whose spirit came from you?

⁵ “The dead tremble,
Those under the waters and those inhabiting them.
^6 (AY)Sheol is naked before Him,
And Destruction has no covering.
^7 (AZ)He stretches out the north over empty space;
He hangs the earth on nothing.
^8 (BA)He binds up the water in His thick clouds,
Yet the clouds ^[o]are not broken under it.
⁹ He covers the face of His throne,
And spreads His cloud over it.
^10 (BB)He drew a circular horizon on the face of the waters,
At the boundary of light and darkness.
¹¹ The pillars of heaven tremble,
And are ^[p]astonished at His rebuke.
^12 (BC)He stirs up the sea with His power,
And by His understanding He breaks up ^[q]the storm.
^13 (BD)By His Spirit He adorned the heavens;
His hand pierced ^(BE)the fleeing serpent.
¹⁴ Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways,
And how small a whisper we hear of Him!
But the thunder of His power who can understand?”

² “As God lives, ^(BF)who has taken away my justice,
And the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter,
³ As long as my breath is in me,
And the breath of God in my nostrils,
⁴ My lips will not speak wickedness,
Nor my tongue utter deceit.
⁵ Far be it from me
That I should say you are right;
Till I die ^(BG)I will not put away my integrity from me.
⁶ My righteousness I ^(BH)hold fast, and will not let it go;
^(BI)My heart shall not ^[r]reproach me as long as I live.

⁷ “May my enemy be like the wicked,
And he who rises up against me like the unrighteous.
^8 (BJ)For what is the hope of the hypocrite,
Though he may gain much,
If God takes away his life?
^9 (BK)Will God hear his cry
When trouble comes upon him?
^10 (BL)Will he delight himself in the Almighty?
Will he always call on God?

¹¹ “I will teach you ^[s]about the hand of God;
What is with the Almighty I will not conceal.
¹² Surely all of you have seen it;
Why then do you behave with complete nonsense?

¹³ “This^(BM) is the portion of a wicked man with God,
And the heritage of oppressors, received from the Almighty:
^14 (BN)If his children are multiplied, it is for the sword;
And his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread.
¹⁵ Those who survive him shall be buried in death,
And ^(BO)their^[t] widows shall not weep,
¹⁶ Though he heaps up silver like dust,
And piles up clothing like clay—
¹⁷ He may pile it up, but ^(BP)the just will wear it,
And the innocent will divide the silver.
¹⁸ He builds his house like a ^[u]moth,
^(BQ)Like a ^[v]booth which a watchman makes.
¹⁹ The rich man will lie down,
^[w]But not be gathered up;
He opens his eyes,
And he is ^(BR)no more.
^20 (BS)Terrors overtake him like a flood;
A tempest steals him away in the night.
²¹ The east wind carries him away, and he is gone;
It sweeps him out of his place.
²² It hurls against him and does not ^(BT)spare;
He flees desperately from its ^[x]power.
²³ Men shall clap their hands at him,
And shall hiss him out of his place.