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- ¶ I MADE a vow with my eyes that I would never lust after a virgin.
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- For what portion would I have then from God who is above, and what heritage from the Almighty who is on high?
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- For it is destruction to the wicked, and punishment to the workers of iniquity.
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- He sees my ways, and counts all my steps.
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- If I have walked with hypocrites, or if my foot hastened to deceit;
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- Let me be weighed in a just balance, that God may know my integrity.
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- I have not turned aside my steps from the way, and my heart has not followed after my eyes, and I have acquired nothing unjustly;
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- But when I sowed, then I ate, and when I planted, then I cultivated and gathered the crops.
- 9
- ¶ And if my heart has been enticed by a strange woman, or if I have lain in wait at my neighbor’s door;
- 10
- Then let my wife grind for another, and let her bake bread at another man’s place,
- 11
- For this is a heinous crime;
yea, such an eye devises a crafty scheme.
- 12
- For passion is a fire that consumes to destruction, and it would root out all my increase.
- 13
- If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant, when he contended with me,
- 14
- Without saying, What then shall I do when God rises up in judgment, and when he inquires, what shall I answer him?
- 15
- (For, behold, he who made me in the womb made him, and he created us in the same womb);
- 16
- ¶ If I have withheld the poor from his desire, or have defrauded the widow,
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- Or have eaten my bread alone, and the orphans did not eat of it
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- (Because from my youth I was brought up in sorrows, and from my mother’s womb with sighing);
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- If I have seen anyone perishing for want of clothing, or any poor without covering
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- (But they were reared upon my knees, and were warmed with the fleece of my sheep);
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- If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless (when I saw him at the door I helped him);
- 22
- Then let my arm fall from my shoulder blade, and let it be broken from the bone.
- 23
- For the fear of God made me to tremble, and affliction from him came upon me, and because of terror I was unable to rise up.
- 24
- ¶ If I have made gold my trust, or said about the precious stones, You are my confidence;
or have said about fine gold, You are my hope;
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- If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because my hand had gotten much;
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- If I have adored the sun when it shone, or the moon when in full brightness;
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- And if my heart has been secretly enticed, if I have consented to wrongdoings;
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- Then God has seen my crafty ways, and I have lied before him.
- 29
- If I have rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me, or exulted myself when misfortune befell him;
- 30
- (But I have neither suffered my mouth to sin, nor has my soul wished for any of these things;
- 31
- My friends said, Oh this man would give us even of his own flesh!
but we are not satisfied,
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- And the stranger I did not let lodge in the street, and I opened my door to the guest);
- 33
- ¶ If I have covered up my sins like some men, or if I have hid my guilt in secret places;
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- If I have trampled upon the rights of the others (but on the contrary, it is the multitude of families which has ruined me.
Nor have I turned away anyone at the door; or engaged in gossip) let the provocations of God lay me low!
- 35
- O that one would hear me!
If God is present, let him answer me, and let him write the sentence in a book.
- 36
- Surely I would take it upon my shoulder, and make it a crown to me.
- 37
- I would declare to him the number of my steps;
as a prince I would go near to him.
- 38
- Let the earth lament over me, let its furrows weep together,
- 39
- If I have eaten its fruits without money;
or if I have grieved one whose life is bitter,
- 40
- Then let thistles grow instead of wheat and thorns instead of barley.
The words of Job are ended.
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