Compare: Job 31

BSB

“I have made a covenant with my eyes. How then could I gaze with desire at a virgin?

BSB

For what is the allotment of God from above, or the heritage from the Almighty on high?

BSB

Does not disaster come to the unjust and calamity to the workers of iniquity?

BSB

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

BSB

If I have walked in falsehood or my foot has rushed to deceit,

BSB

let God weigh me with honest scales, that He may know my integrity.

BSB

If my steps have turned from the path, if my heart has followed my eyes, or if impurity has stuck to my hands,

BSB

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

BSB

If my heart has been enticed by my neighbor’s wife, or I have lurked at his door,

BSB

then may my own wife grind grain for another, and may other men sleep with her.

BSB

For that would be a heinous crime, an iniquity to be judged.

BSB

For it is a fire that burns down to Abaddon; it would root out my entire harvest.

BSB

If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or maidservant when they made a complaint against me,

BSB

what will I do when God rises to judge? How will I answer when called to account?

BSB

Did not He who made me in the womb also make them? Did not the same One form us in the womb?

BSB

If I have denied the desires of the poor or allowed the widow’s eyes to fail,

BSB

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

BSB

though from my youth I reared him as would a father, and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow—

BSB

if I have seen one perish for lack of clothing, or a needy man without a cloak,

BSB

if his heart has not blessed me for warming him with the fleece of my sheep,

BSB

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

BSB

then may my arm fall from my shoulder and be torn from its socket.

BSB

For calamity from God terrifies me, and His splendor I cannot overpower.

BSB

If I have put my trust in gold or called pure gold my security,

BSB

if I have rejoiced in my great wealth because my hand had gained so much,

BSB

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

BSB

so that my heart was secretly enticed and my hand threw a kiss from my mouth,

BSB

this would also be an iniquity to be judged, for I would have denied God on high.

BSB

If I have rejoiced in my enemy’s ruin, or exulted when evil befell him—

BSB

I have not allowed my mouth to sin by asking for his life with a curse—

BSB

if the men of my house have not said, ‘Who is there who has not had his fill?’—

BSB

but no stranger had to lodge on the street, for my door has been open to the traveler—

BSB

if I have covered my transgressions like Adam by hiding my guilt in my heart,

BSB

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

BSB

(Oh, that I had one to hear me! Here is my signature. Let the Almighty answer me; let my accuser compose an indictment.

BSB

Surely I would carry it on my shoulder and wear it like a crown.

BSB

I would give account of all my steps; I would approach Him like a prince.)—

BSB

if my land cries out against me and its furrows weep together,

BSB

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

BSB

then let briers grow instead of wheat and stinkweed instead of barley.” Thus conclude the words of Job.