2  ^a“Can a man be profitable to God?

Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself.

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

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

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

and ^centers into judgment with you?

5  Is not your evil abundant?

There is no end to your iniquities.

6  For you have ^dexacted pledges of your brothers for nothing

^eand stripped the naked of their clothing.

7  You have given no water to the weary to drink,

and you have ^fwithheld bread from the hungry.

8  ^gThe man with power possessed the land,

and ^hthe favored man lived in it.

9  You have ⁱsent widows away empty,

and ^jthe arms of ^kthe fatherless were crushed.

10  Therefore ^lsnares are all around you,

and sudden terror overwhelms you,

11  or ^mdarkness, so that you cannot see,

and a ⁿflood of ^owater covers you.

12  “Is not God high in the heavens?

See ^pthe highest stars, how lofty they are!

13  But you say, ^q‘What does God know?

Can he judge through ^rthe deep darkness?

14  ^sThick clouds veil him, so that he does not see,

and he walks on the vault of heaven.’

15  Will you keep to the old way

that wicked men have trod?

16  They were snatched away ^tbefore their time;

their foundation was washed away.¹

17  They said to God, ^u‘Depart from us,’

and ^v‘What can the Almighty do to us?’²

18  Yet he filled their houses with good things—

but ^wthe counsel of the wicked is far from me.

19  ^xThe righteous see it and are glad;

the innocent one ^ymocks at them,

20  saying, ‘Surely our adversaries are cut off,

and what they left ^zthe fire has consumed.’

21  ^a“Agree with God, and ^bbe at peace;

thereby good will come to you.

22  Receive instruction from ^chis mouth,

and ^dlay up his words in your heart.

23  If you ^ereturn to the Almighty you will be ^fbuilt up;

if you ^gremove injustice far from your tents,

24  if you lay gold in ^hthe dust,

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

25  then the Almighty will be your gold

and your precious silver.

26  For then you ^jwill delight yourself in the Almighty

and ^klift up your face to God.

27  You will ^lmake your prayer to him, and he will hear you,

and you will ^mpay your vows.

28  You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you,

and ⁿlight will shine on your ways.

29  For when they are humbled you say, ‘It is because of pride’;³

but he saves ^othe lowly.

30  He ^pdelivers even the one who is not innocent,

who will be delivered through ^qthe cleanness of your hands.”

2  “Today also my ^rcomplaint is bitter;⁴

my ^shand is heavy on account of my groaning.

3  Oh, ^tthat I knew where I might find him,

that I might come even to his ^useat!

4  I would ^vlay my case before him

and fill my mouth with arguments.

5  I would know what he would answer me

and understand what he would say to me.

6  Would he ^wcontend with me in the greatness of his power?

No; he would pay attention to me.

7  There an upright man could argue with him,

and I would be acquitted forever by my judge.

8  “Behold, ^xI go forward, but he is not there,

and backward, but I do not perceive him;

9  on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him;

he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him.

10  But he ^yknows ^zthe way that I ^atake;

when he has ^btried me, I shall come out as gold.

11  My foot ^chas held fast to his steps;

I have kept his way and have ^dnot turned aside.

12  I have not departed from the commandment of his lips;

I have ^etreasured the words of his mouth more than my ^fportion of food.

13  But he is unchangeable,⁵ and ^gwho can turn him back?

What he ^hdesires, that he does.

14  For he will complete what he ⁱappoints for me,

and many such things are ^jin his mind.

15  Therefore I am terrified at his presence;

when I consider, I am in dread of him.

16  God has made my ^kheart faint;

the Almighty has terrified me;

17  yet I am not silenced because of the darkness,

nor because thick darkness covers my face.

1  “Why are ^lnot times of judgment ^mkept by the Almighty,

and why do those who know him never see his ⁿdays?

2  Some move ^olandmarks;

they seize flocks and pasture them.

3  They drive away the donkey of the fatherless;

they ^ptake the widow’s ox for a pledge.

4  They ^qthrust the poor off the road;

the poor of the earth ^rall hide themselves.

5  Behold, like wild donkeys in the desert

the poor^{6 s}go out to their toil, ^tseeking game;

the wasteland yields food for their children.

6  They gather their⁷ fodder in the field,

and they glean the vineyard of the wicked man.

7  They ^ulie all night naked, without clothing,

and have no covering in the cold.

8  They are wet with the rain of the mountains

and ^vcling to the rock for lack of shelter.

9  (There are those who snatch the fatherless child from the breast,

and they take a pledge against the poor.)

10  They go about naked, without clothing;

hungry, they ^wcarry the sheaves;

11  among the olive rows of the wicked⁸ they make oil;

they tread the winepresses, but suffer thirst.

12  From out of the city the dying⁹ groan,

and the soul of ^xthe wounded cries for help;

yet God charges no one with ^ywrong.

13  “There are those who rebel ^zagainst the light,

who are not acquainted with its ways,

and do not stay in its paths.

14  The murderer rises before it is light,

that he ^amay kill the poor and needy,

and in the night he is like a thief.

15  The eye of the adulterer also waits for ^bthe twilight,

saying, ‘No ^ceye will see me’;

and he veils his face.

16  In the dark they ^ddig through houses;

by day they shut themselves up;

they do not know the light.

17  For ^edeep darkness is morning to all of them;

for they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness.

18  “You say, ^f‘Swift are they on the face of the waters;

their portion is cursed in the land;

no treader turns toward their vineyards.

19  Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters;

so does ^gSheol those who have sinned.

20  The womb forgets them;

the worm finds them sweet;

they are ^hno longer remembered,

so wickedness is broken like ⁱa tree.’

21  “They wrong the barren, childless woman,

and do no good to the widow.

22  Yet God¹⁰ prolongs the life of the mighty by his power;

they rise up when they despair of life.

23  He gives them security, and they are supported,

and his ^jeyes are upon their ways.

24  They are exalted ^ka little while, and then ^lare gone;

they are brought low and gathered up like all others;

they are ^mcut off like the heads of grain.

25  If it is ⁿnot so, who will prove me a liar

and show that there is nothing in what I say?”