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Job Wonders What Sin He May Have Committed

31 “I have made an agreement with my eyes.
    Then how can I look with lust at a virgin?
What would Eloah above do to me?
    What would be my inheritance from Shadday on high?
Aren’t there catastrophes for wicked people
    and disasters for those who do wrong?
Doesn’t he see my ways
    and count all my steps?

“If I have walked with lies
    or my feet have run after deception,
then let Eloah weigh me on honest scales,
    and he will know I have integrity.

“If my steps have left the proper path,
    or my heart has followed the desire of my eyes,
    or my hands are stained with sin,
then let someone else eat what I have planted,
    and let my crops be uprooted.

“If I have been seduced by a woman
    or I have secretly waited near my neighbor’s door,
10 then let my wife grind for another man,
    and let other men kneel over her.
11 That would be a scandal,
    and that would be a criminal offense.
12 It would be a fire that burns even in Abaddon.
    It would uproot my entire harvest.

13 “If I have abused the rights of my servants, male or female,
    when they have disagreed with me,
14 then what could I do if El rises up?
    If he examines me, how could I answer him?
15 Didn’t he who made me in my mother’s belly make them?
    Didn’t the same God form us in the womb?

16 “If I have refused the requests of the poor
    or made a widow’s eyes stop looking for help,
17 or have eaten my food alone
    without letting the orphan eat any of it. . . .
18 (From my youth the orphan grew up with me
    as though I were his father,
        and from my birth I treated the widow kindly.)
19 If I have seen anyone die because he had no clothes
    or a poor person going naked. . . .
20 (If his body didn’t bless me,
    or the wool from my sheep didn’t keep him warm. . . .)
21 If I have shaken my fist at an orphan
    because I knew that others would back me up in court,
22 then let my shoulder fall out of its socket,
    and let my arm be broken at the elbow.

23 “A disaster from El terrifies me.
    In the presence of his majesty I can do nothing.

24 “If I put my confidence in gold
    or said to fine gold, ‘I trust you’. . . .
25 If I enjoyed being very rich
    because my hand had found great wealth. . . .
26 If I saw the light shine
    or the moon move along in its splendor
27 so that my heart was secretly tempted,
    and I threw them a kiss with my hand,
28 then that, too, would be a criminal offense,
    and I would have denied El above.

29 “If I enjoyed the ruin of my enemy
    or celebrated when harm came to him
30 (even though I didn’t speak sinfully
    by calling down a curse on his life). . . .

31 “If the people who were in my tent had said,
    ‘We wish we had never filled our stomachs with his food’. . . .
32 (The visitor never spent the night outside,
    because I opened my door to the traveler.)

33 “If I have covered my disobedience like Adam
    and kept my sin to myself,
34 because I dreaded the large, noisy crowd
    and because the contempt of the local mobs terrified me
        so that I kept quiet and didn’t go outside. . . .

35 “If only I had someone who would listen to me!
    Look, here is my signature!
        Let Shadday answer me.
        Let the prosecutor write his complaint on a scroll.
36 I would certainly carry it on my shoulder
    and place it on my head like a crown.
37 I would tell him the number of my steps
    and approach him like a prince.

38 “If my land has cried out against me,
    and its furrows have wept. . . .
39 If I have eaten its produce without paying for it
    and made its owners breathe their last,
40 then let it grow thistles instead of wheat,
    and foul-smelling weeds instead of barley.”

This is the end of Job’s words.

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