Job 22

¹⁰So you also, when you have done everything commanded of you, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”

⁷Do not be deceived: God is not to be mocked. Whatever a man sows, he will reap in return.

⁸The one who sows to please his flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; but the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

⁶If you sin, what do you accomplish against Him? If you multiply your transgressions, what do you do to Him?

⁷If you are righteous, what do you give Him, or what does He receive from your hand?

²I said to the Lord, “You are my Lord; apart from You I have no good thing.”

¹³Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who acquires understanding,

¹⁴for she is more profitable than silver, and her gain is better than fine gold.

¹⁵Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him, and what would we gain if we pray to Him?’

⁸The sacrifice of the wicked is detestable to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is His delight.

¹Therefore, beloved, since we have these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that defiles body and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

²²Lying lips are detestable to the Lord, but those who deal faithfully are His delight.

¹Dishonest scales are an abomination to the Lord, but an accurate weight is His delight.

¹⁰He does not delight in the strength of the horse; He takes no pleasure in the legs of a man.

¹¹The Lord is pleased with those who fear Him, who hope in His loving devotion.

¹⁷I know, my God, that You test the heart and delight in uprightness. All these things I have given willingly and with an upright heart, and now I have seen Your people who are present here giving joyfully and willingly to You.

³Do You open Your eyes to one like this? Will You bring him into judgment before You?

²Do not bring Your servant into judgment, for no one alive is righteous before You.

¹⁴The Lord brings this charge against the elders and leaders of His people: “You have devoured the vineyard; the plunder of the poor is in your houses.

¹⁵Why do you crush My people and grind the faces of the poor?” declares the Lord God of Hosts.

¹⁹Those I love I rebuke and discipline. Therefore be earnest and repent.

¹¹You discipline and correct a man for his iniquity, consuming like a moth what he holds dear; surely each man is but a vapor. Selah

²³For God need not examine a man further or have him approach for judgment.

⁵For your iniquity instructs your mouth, and you choose the language of the crafty.

⁶Your own mouth, not mine, condemns you; your own lips testify against you.

¹²For evils without number surround me; my sins have overtaken me, so that I cannot see. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart has failed within me.

²⁷Behold, I know your thoughts full well, the schemes by which you would wrong me.

¹⁴if you put away the iniquity in your hand, and allow no injustice to dwell in your tents,

¹²Who can discern his own errors? Cleanse me from my hidden faults.

⁷Consider now, I plead: Who, being innocent, has ever perished? Or where have the upright been destroyed?

⁸As I have observed, those who plow iniquity and those who sow trouble reap the same.

²⁶If you take your neighbor’s cloak as collateral, return it to him by sunset,

¹²He oppresses the poor and needy; he commits robbery and does not restore a pledge. He lifts his eyes to idols; he commits abominations.

¹⁶He does not oppress another, or retain a pledge, or commit robbery. He gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with clothing.

¹⁰When you lend anything to your neighbor, do not enter his house to collect security.

¹¹You are to stand outside while the man to whom you are lending brings the security out to you.

³They drive away the donkey of the fatherless and take the widow’s ox in pledge.

⁹The fatherless infant is snatched from the breast; the nursing child of the poor is seized for a debt.

¹⁰Without clothing, they wander about naked. They carry the sheaves, but still go hungry.

¹⁷if I have eaten my morsel alone, not sharing it with the fatherless—

⁷Isn’t it to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the poor and homeless into your home, to clothe the naked when you see him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

⁴²For I was hungry and you gave Me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink,

¹⁶He does not oppress another, or retain a pledge, or commit robbery. He gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with clothing.

⁷He does not oppress another, but restores the pledge to the debtor. He does not commit robbery, but gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with clothing.

¹⁷Kindness to the poor is a loan to the Lord, and He will repay the lender.

¹⁵The head is the elder and honorable man, and the tail is the prophet who teaches lies.

³⁴because I greatly feared the crowds and the contempt of the clans terrified me, so that I kept silent and would not go outside—

⁸The wicked wander freely, and vileness is exalted among men.

⁷When I went out to the city gate and took my seat in the public square,

⁸the young men saw me and withdrew, and the old men rose to their feet.

³Both hands are skilled at evil; the prince and the judge demand a bribe. When the powerful utters his evil desire, they all conspire together.

¹¹So the elders and nobles who lived in Naboth’s city did as Jezebel had instructed in the letters she had written to them.

¹²They proclaimed a fast and gave Naboth a seat of honor among the people.

²¹They prey on the barren and childless, and show no kindness to the widow.

⁷Father and mother are treated with contempt. Within your walls the foreign resident is exploited, the fatherless and the widow are oppressed.

³They drive away the donkey of the fatherless and take the widow’s ox in pledge.

²to deprive the poor of fair treatment and withhold justice from the oppressed of My people, to make widows their prey and orphans their plunder.

²¹if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless because I saw that I had support in the gate,

¹⁹‘Cursed is he who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’

²¹Withdraw Your hand from me, and do not let Your terror frighten me.

⁴For the arrows of the Almighty have pierced me; my spirit drinks in their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me.

⁸For his own feet lead him into a net, and he wanders into its mesh.

⁹A trap seizes his heel; a snare grips him.

³While people are saying, “Peace and security,” destruction will come upon them suddenly, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

⁶On the wicked He will rain down fiery coals and sulfur; a scorching wind will be their portion.

²⁷when your dread comes like a storm, and your destruction like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish overwhelm you.

¹For the choirmaster. To the tune of “Lilies.” Of David. Save me, O God, for the waters are up to my neck.

²I have sunk into the miry depths, where there is no footing; I have drifted into deep waters, where the flood engulfs me.

⁵⁴The waters flowed over my head, and I thought I was going to die.

³For You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the current swirled about me; all Your breakers and waves swept over me.

²He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness instead of light.

³⁴Can you command the clouds so that a flood of water covers you?

¹²But the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

¹This is what the Lord says: “Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. What kind of house will you build for Me? Or where will My place of repose be?

²Do not be quick to speak, and do not be hasty in your heart to utter a word before God. For God is in heaven and you are on earth. So let your words be few.

⁸They are higher than the heavens—what can you do? They are deeper than Sheol—what can you know?

³When I behold Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place—

⁴what is man that You are mindful of him, or the son of man that You care for him?

¹⁵For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in a high and holy place, and with the oppressed and humble in spirit, to restore the spirit of the lowly and revive the heart of the contrite.

³Our God is in heaven; He does as He pleases.

¹²“Son of man,” He said to me, “do you see what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the darkness, each at the shrine of his own idol? For they are saying, ‘The Lord does not see us; the Lord has forsaken the land.’”

¹¹He says to himself, “God has forgotten; He hides His face and never sees.”

⁹He replied, “The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great. The land is full of bloodshed, and the city is full of perversity. For they say, ‘The Lord has forsaken the land; the Lord does not see.’

¹¹The wicked say, “How can God know? Does the Most High have knowledge?”

⁷They say, “The Lord does not see; the God of Jacob pays no heed.”

⁸Take notice, O senseless among the people! O fools, when will you be wise?

⁷See what they spew from their mouths—sharp words from their lips: “For who can hear us?”

²Clouds and darkness surround Him; righteousness and justice are His throne’s foundation.

¹¹If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me, and the light become night around me”—

¹²even the darkness is not dark to You, but the night shines like the day, for darkness is as light to You.

¹⁴From His dwelling place He gazes on all who inhabit the earth.

²²There is no darkness or deep shadow where the workers of iniquity can hide.

²⁴“Can a man hide in secret places where I cannot see him?” declares the Lord. “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” declares the Lord.

¹For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. O Lord, You have searched me and known me.

²You know when I sit and when I rise; You understand my thoughts from afar.

²⁶Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man:

²⁷People were eating and drinking, marrying and being given in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.

¹¹Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and full of violence.

¹²And God looked upon the earth and saw that it was corrupt; for all living creatures on the earth had corrupted their ways.

⁵Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was altogether evil all the time.

³²It will be paid in full before his time, and his branch will not flourish.

¹⁷For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and the waters rose and lifted the ark high above the earth.

¹⁸So the waters continued to surge and rise greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the waters.

³⁷As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be at the coming of the Son of Man.

³⁸For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark.

⁵if He did not spare the ancient world when He brought the flood on its ungodly people, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, among the eight;

²³But You, O God, will bring them down to the Pit of destruction; men of bloodshed and deceit will not live out half their days. But I will trust in You.

¹⁹in whom He also went and preached to the spirits in prison

²⁰who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In the ark a few people, only eight souls, were saved through water.

¹⁴Yet they say to God: ‘Leave us alone! For we have no desire to know Your ways.

¹⁵Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him, and what would we gain if we pray to Him?’

²⁸Furthermore, since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, He gave them up to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.

⁶Many ask, “Who can show us the good?” Shine the light of Your face upon us, O Lord.

²⁹“What do You want with us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have You come here to torture us before the appointed time?”

¹¹Get out of the way; turn off the road. Rid us of the Holy One of Israel!”

¹⁰Their bulls breed without fail; their cows bear calves and do not miscarry.

¹⁶Still, their prosperity is not in their own hands, so I stay far from the counsel of the wicked.

⁶The tents of robbers are safe, and those who provoke God are secure—those who carry their god in their hands.

⁷The Lord sends poverty and wealth; He humbles and He exalts.

²You planted them, and they have taken root. They have grown and produced fruit. You are ever on their lips, but far from their hearts.

¹⁴from such men, O Lord, by Your hand—from men of the world whose portion is in this life. May You fill the bellies of Your treasured ones and satisfy their sons, so they leave their abundance to their children.

¹⁷Yet He has not left Himself without testimony to His goodness: He gives you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts with food and gladness.”

¹⁰The righteous will rejoice when they see they are avenged; they will wash their feet in the blood of the wicked.

⁴²The upright see and rejoice, and all iniquity shuts its mouth.

⁶The righteous will see and fear; they will mock the evildoer, saying,

⁸Zion hears and rejoices, and the towns of Judah exult because of Your judgments, O Lord.

²⁰Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, because God has pronounced for you His judgment against her.

¹¹Mount Zion is glad, the daughters of Judah rejoice, on account of Your judgments.

¹⁶While he was still speaking, another messenger came and reported: “The fire of God fell from heaven. It burned and consumed the sheep and the servants, and I alone have escaped to tell you!”

²⁴Then the Lord rained down sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the Lord out of the heavens.

⁶if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction, reducing them to ashes as an example of what is coming on the ungodly;

⁷and if He rescued Lot, a righteous man distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless

²⁶Total darkness is reserved for his treasures. A fire unfanned will consume him and devour what is left in his tent.

⁵For your iniquity instructs your mouth, and you choose the language of the crafty.

⁶Your own mouth, not mine, condemns you; your own lips testify against you.

¹⁸He must return the fruit of his labor without consuming it; he cannot enjoy the profits of his trading.

¹⁹For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor; he has seized houses he did not build.

⁹As for you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve Him wholeheartedly and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands the intent of every thought. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.

⁵Or let them lay claim to My protection; let them make peace with Me—yes, let them make peace with Me.”

⁷And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

¹⁰Young lions go lacking and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.

¹⁴For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has torn down the dividing wall of hostility

¹⁵by abolishing in His flesh the law of commandments and decrees. He did this to create in Himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace

²⁰Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ: Be reconciled to God.

¹¹I have hidden Your word in my heart that I might not sin against You.

¹²I have not departed from the command of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my daily bread.

⁶These words I am commanding you today are to be upon your hearts.

⁷And you shall teach them diligently to your children and speak of them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

¹Hear now, O Israel, the statutes and ordinances I am teaching you to follow, so that you may live and may enter and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you.

²You must not add to or subtract from what I command you, so that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I am giving you.

¹⁶Your words were found, and I ate them. Your words became my joy and my heart’s delight. For I bear Your name, O Lord God of Hosts.

²¹Do not lose sight of them; keep them within your heart.

¹³As for you, if you direct your heart and lift up your hands to Him,

¹⁴if you put away the iniquity in your hand, and allow no injustice to dwell in your tents,

³So tell the people that this is what the Lord of Hosts says: ‘Return to Me, declares the Lord of Hosts, and I will return to you, says the Lord of Hosts.’

⁵But if you would earnestly seek God and ask the Almighty for mercy,

⁶if you are pure and upright, even now He will rouse Himself on your behalf and restore your righteous estate.

⁶Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near.

⁷Let the wicked man forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that He may have compassion, and to our God, for He will freely pardon.

¹Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled by your iniquity.

²Bring your confessions and return to the Lord. Say to Him: “Take away all our iniquity and receive us graciously, that we may present the fruit of our lips.

¹⁹Nevertheless, God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord must turn away from iniquity.”

²⁸They sailed to Ophir and imported gold from there—420 talents—and delivered it to Solomon.

¹²I will make man scarcer than pure gold, and mankind rarer than the gold of Ophir.

⁹The daughters of kings are among your honored women; the queen stands at your right hand, adorned with the gold of Ophir.

²⁹Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were sons of Joktan.

¹⁰(The servants of Hiram and of Solomon who brought gold from Ophir also brought algum wood and precious stones.

²¹All King Solomon’s drinking cups were gold, and all the utensils of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. There was no silver, because it was accounted as nothing in the days of Solomon.

⁶He will be the sure foundation for your times, a storehouse of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge. The fear of the Lord is Zion’s treasure.

⁵The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; You have made my lot secure.

⁶The lines of my boundary have fallen in pleasant places; surely my inheritance is delightful.

¹After these events, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.”

²The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer. My God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

¹¹For the Lord God is a sun and a shield; the Lord gives grace and glory; He withholds no good thing from those who walk with integrity.

⁵Listen, my beloved brothers: Has not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom He promised those who love Him?

¹⁴then you will delight yourself in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the land and feed you with the heritage of your father Jacob.” For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

⁴Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.

¹⁰Will he delight in the Almighty? Will he call upon God at all times?

¹⁵then indeed you will lift up your face without blemish; you will stand firm and unafraid.

²²For in my inner being I delight in God’s law.

⁴Bring joy to Your servant, for to You, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

⁹Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry out, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you remove the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger and malicious talk,

¹⁴And this is the confidence that we have before Him: If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

¹⁵And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we already possess what we have asked of Him.

¹I love the Lord, for He has heard my voice—my appeal for mercy.

¹⁵When he calls out to Me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him and honor him.

¹⁴Sacrifice a thank offering to God, and fulfill your vows to the Most High.

¹⁵Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor Me.”

²⁶He prays to God and finds favor; he sees God’s face and shouts for joy, and God restores His righteousness to that man.

²²If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

¹⁷May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish for us the work of our hands—yes, establish the work of our hands!

⁴May He give you the desires of your heart and make all your plans succeed.

²¹And whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you: “This is the way. Walk in it.”

¹⁸The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining brighter and brighter until midday.

³⁷Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has ordained it?

¹⁹He will rescue you from six calamities; no harm will touch you in seven.

²⁰In famine He will redeem you from death, and in battle from the stroke of the sword.

⁶But He gives us more grace. This is why it says: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

⁵²He has brought down rulers from their thrones, but has exalted the humble.

⁵Young men, in the same way, submit yourselves to your elders. And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

¹²For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

¹⁴“Because he loves Me, I will deliver him; because he knows My name, I will protect him.

¹⁵When he calls out to Me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him and honor him.

⁷After the Lord had spoken these words to Job, He said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and your two friends. For you have not spoken about Me accurately, as My servant Job has.

⁸So now, take seven bulls and seven rams, go to My servant Job, and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. Then My servant Job will pray for you, for I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken accurately about Me, as My servant Job has.”

¹⁵And the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick. The Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.

¹⁶Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power to prevail.

²⁶So the Lord replied, “If I find fifty righteous ones within the city of Sodom, on their account I will spare the whole place.”

²⁷Then Abraham answered, “Now that I have ventured to speak to the Lord—though I am but dust and ashes—

²⁰The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness; He has repaid me according to the cleanness of my hands.

²⁴and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And look, God has granted you the lives of all who sail with you.’

⁹“But ask now for God’s favor. Will He be gracious? Since this has come from your hands, will He show you favor?” asks the Lord of Hosts.