Job’s Final Appeal

31 “I have made a covenant with my beyes;

how then could I gaze at a virgin?

2  What would be cmy portion from God above

and cmy heritage from the Almighty on high?

3  Is not calamity for the unrighteous,

and disaster for the workers of iniquity?

4  dDoes not he see my ways

and enumber all my steps?

5  “If I have walked with falsehood

and my foot has hastened to deceit;

6  (Let me be fweighed in a just balance,

and let God know my integrity!)

7  if my step has turned aside from the way

and gmy heart has gone after my eyes,

and if any hspot has stuck to my hands,

8  then let me isow, and another eat,

and let what grows for me1 be rooted out.

9  “If my heart has been enticed toward a woman,

and I have jlain in wait at my neighbor’s door,

10  then let my wife kgrind for another,

and let others lbow down on her.

11  For that would be a heinous crime;

that would be an iniquity mto be punished by the judges;

12  for that would be a fire nthat consumes as far as Abaddon,

and it would burn to the root all my increase.

13  “If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant,

when they brought a complaint against me,

14  what then shall I do when God rises up?

When he omakes inquiry, what shall I answer him?

15  Did pnot he who made me in the womb make him?

And did not one fashion us in the womb?

16  “If I have qwithheld anything that the poor desired,

or have rcaused the eyes of the widow to fail,

17  or have eaten my morsel alone,

and the fatherless has not eaten of it

18  (for from my youth the fatherless2 grew up with me as with a father,

and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow3),

19  if I have seen anyone sperish for tlack of clothing,

or the needy without tcovering,

20  if his body has not ublessed me,4

and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep,

21  if I have raised my hand against vthe fatherless,

because I saw my help in wthe gate,

22  then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder,

and let my arm be broken from its socket.

23  For I was xin terror of calamity from God,

and I could not have faced his xmajesty.

24  y“If I have made gold my ztrust

or called afine gold my confidence,

25  if I have brejoiced because my wealth was abundant

or because cmy hand had found much,

26  dif I have looked at the sun5 when it shone,

or ethe moon moving in splendor,

27  and my heart has been secretly enticed,

and my mouth has kissed my hand,

28  this also would be fan iniquity to be punished by the judges,

for I would have been false to God above.

29  “If I have grejoiced at the ruin of him who hated me,

or exulted when evil overtook him

30  (hI have not let my mouth sin

by asking for his life with a curse),

31  if the men of my tent have not said,

‘Who is there that has not been filled with his imeat?’

32  (jthe sojourner has not lodged in the street;

I have opened my doors to the traveler),

33  if I khave concealed my transgressions las others do6

by hiding my iniquity in my heart,

34  because I stood in great fear of mthe multitude,

and the contempt of families terrified me,

so that I kept silence, and did not go out of doors—

35  Oh, that I had one to hear me!

(Here is my signature! Let the Almighty nanswer me!)

Oh, that I had othe indictment written by my adversary!

36  Surely I would carry it on my pshoulder;

I would qbind it on me as ra crown;

37  I would give him an account of all my steps;

like a prince I would approach him.

38  “If my land has cried out against me

and its furrows have wept together,

39  sif I have eaten its yield without payment

and made its owners tbreathe their last,

40  let uthorns grow instead of wheat,

and foul weeds instead of barley.”

The words of Job are ended.