² “Can a person do anything to help God?
    Can even a wise person be helpful to him?
³ Is it any advantage to the Almighty if you are righteous?
    Would it be any gain to him if you were perfect?
⁴ Is it because you’re so pious that he accuses you
    and brings judgment against you?
⁵ No, it’s because of your wickedness!
    There’s no limit to your sins.

⁶ “For example, you must have lent money to your friend
    and demanded clothing as security.
    Yes, you stripped him to the bone.
⁷ You must have refused water for the thirsty
    and food for the hungry.
⁸ You probably think the land belongs to the powerful
    and only the privileged have a right to it!
⁹ You must have sent widows away empty-handed
    and crushed the hopes of orphans.
¹⁰ That is why you are surrounded by traps
    and tremble from sudden fears.
¹¹ That is why you cannot see in the darkness,
    and waves of water cover you.

¹² “God is so great—higher than the heavens,
    higher than the farthest stars.
¹³ But you reply, ‘That’s why God can’t see what I am doing!
    How can he judge through the thick darkness?
¹⁴ For thick clouds swirl about him, and he cannot see us.
    He is way up there, walking on the vault of heaven.’

¹⁵ “Will you continue on the old paths
    where evil people have walked?
¹⁶ They were snatched away in the prime of life,
    the foundations of their lives washed away.
¹⁷ For they said to God, ‘Leave us alone!
    What can the Almighty do to us?’
¹⁸ Yet he was the one who filled their homes with good things,
    so I will have nothing to do with that kind of thinking.

¹⁹ “The righteous will be happy to see the wicked destroyed,
    and the innocent will laugh in contempt.
²⁰ They will say, ‘See how our enemies have been destroyed.
    The last of them have been consumed in the fire.’

²¹ “Submit to God, and you will have peace;
    then things will go well for you.
²² Listen to his instructions,
    and store them in your heart.
²³ If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored—
    so clean up your life.
²⁴ If you give up your lust for money
    and throw your precious gold into the river,
²⁵ the Almighty himself will be your treasure.
    He will be your precious silver!

²⁶ “Then you will take delight in the Almighty
    and look up to God.
²⁷ You will pray to him, and he will hear you,
    and you will fulfill your vows to him.
²⁸ You will succeed in whatever you choose to do,
    and light will shine on the road ahead of you.
²⁹ If people are in trouble and you say, ‘Help them,’
    God will save them.
³⁰ Even sinners will be rescued;
    they will be rescued because your hands are pure.”