22:2 ‘Can a mortal be of use to God? Can even the wisest be of service to him?
22:3 Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are righteous, or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless?
22:4 Is it for your piety that he reproves you, and enters into judgement with you?
22:5 Is not your wickedness great? There is no end to your iniquities.
22:6 For you have exacted pledges from your family for no reason, and stripped the naked of their clothing.
22:7 You have given no water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry.
22:8 The powerful possess the land, and the favoured live in it.
22:9 You have sent widows away empty-handed, and the arms of the orphans you have crushed.
22:10 Therefore snares are around you, and sudden terror overwhelms you,
22:11 or darkness so that you cannot see; a flood of water covers you.
22:12 ‘Is not God high in the heavens? See the highest stars, how lofty they are!
22:13 Therefore you say, “What does God know? Can he judge through the deep darkness?
22:14 Thick clouds enwrap him, so that he does not see, and he walks on the dome of heaven.”
22:15 Will you keep to the old way that the wicked have trod?
22:16 They were snatched away before their time; their foundation was washed away by a flood.
22:17 They said to God, “Leave us alone”, and “What can the Almighty do to us?”
22:18 Yet he filled their houses with good things— but the plans of the wicked are repugnant to me.
22:19 The righteous see it and are glad; the innocent laugh them to scorn,
22:20 saying, “Surely our adversaries are cut off, and what they left, the fire has consumed.”
22:21 ‘Agree with God, and be at peace; in this way good will come to you.
22:22 Receive instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in your heart.
22:23 If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored, if you remove unrighteousness from your tents,
22:24 if you treat gold like dust, and gold of Ophir like the stones of the torrent-bed,
22:25 and if the Almighty is your gold and your precious silver,
22:26 then you will delight in the Almighty, and lift up your face to God.
22:27 You will pray to him, and he will hear you, and you will pay your vows.
22:28 You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you, and light will shine on your ways.
22:29 When others are humiliated, you say it is pride; for he saves the humble.
22:30 He will deliver even those who are guilty; they will escape because of the cleanness of your hands.’
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