Job 31

Job 31

1

"I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl.

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For what is man's lot from God above, his heritage from the Almighty on high?

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Is it not ruin for the wicked, disaster for those who do wrong?

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Does he not see my ways and count my every step?

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"If I have walked in falsehood or my foot has hurried after deceit--

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let God weigh me in honest scales and he will know that I am blameless--

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if my steps have turned from the path, if my heart has been led by my eyes, or if my hands have been defiled,

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then may others eat what I have sown, and may my crops be uprooted.

9

"If my heart has been enticed by a woman, or if I have lurked at my neighbor's door,

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then may my wife grind another man's grain, and may other men sleep with her.

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For that would have been shameful, a sin to be judged.

12

It is a fire that burns to Destruction; it would have uprooted my harvest.

13

"If I have denied justice to my menservants and maidservants when they had a grievance against me,

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what will I do when God confronts me? What will I answer when called to account?

15

Did not he who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same one form us both within our mothers?

16

"If I have denied the desires of the poor or let the eyes of the widow grow weary,

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if I have kept my bread to myself, not sharing it with the fatherless--

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but from my youth I reared him as would a father, and from my birth I guided the widow--

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if I have seen anyone perishing for lack of clothing, or a needy man without a garment,

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and his heart did not bless me for warming him with the fleece from my sheep,

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if I have raised my hand against the fatherless, knowing that I had influence in court,

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then let my arm fall from the shoulder, let it be broken off at the joint.

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For I dreaded destruction from God, and for fear of his splendor I could not do such things.

24

"If I have put my trust in gold or said to pure gold, `You are my security,'

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if I have rejoiced over my great wealth, the fortune my hands had gained,

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if I have regarded the sun in its radiance or the moon moving in splendor,

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so that my heart was secretly enticed and my hand offered them a kiss of homage,

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then these also would be sins to be judged, for I would have been unfaithful to God on high.

29

"If I have rejoiced at my enemy's misfortune or gloated over the trouble that came to him--

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I have not allowed my mouth to sin by invoking a curse against his life--

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if the men of my household have never said, `Who has not had his fill of Job's meat?'--

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but no stranger had to spend the night in the street, for my door was always open to the traveler--

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if I have concealed my sin as men do, by hiding my guilt in my heart

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because I so feared the crowd and so dreaded the contempt of the clans that I kept silent and would not go outside

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("Oh, that I had someone to hear me! I sign now my defense--let the Almighty answer me; let my accuser put his indictment in writing.

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Surely I would wear it on my shoulder, I would put it on like a crown.

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I would give him an account of my every step; like a prince I would approach him.)--

38

"if my land cries out against me and all its furrows are wet with tears,

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if I have devoured its yield without payment or broken the spirit of its tenants,

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then let briers come up instead of wheat and weeds instead of barley." The words of Job are ended.

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