Job's Final Appeal

¹“I have made a covenant with my beyes;

how then could I gaze at a virgin?

²What would be cmy portion from God above

and cmy heritage from the Almighty on high?

³Is not calamity for the unrighteous,

and disaster for the workers of iniquity?

⁴dDoes 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!)

⁷if 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,

⁸then 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,

¹⁰then let my wife kgrind for another,

and let others lbow down on her.

¹¹For that would be a heinous crime;

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

¹²for 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,

¹⁴what then shall I do when God rises up?

When he omakes inquiry, what shall I answer him?

¹⁵Did 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,

¹⁷or 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),

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

or the needy without tcovering,

²⁰if his body has not ublessed me,4

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

²¹if I have raised my hand against vthe fatherless,

because I saw my help in wthe gate,

²²then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder,

and let my arm be broken from its socket.

²³For I was xin terror of calamity from God,

and I could not have faced his xmajesty.

²⁴y“If I have made gold my ztrust

or called afine gold my confidence,

²⁵if I have brejoiced because my wealth was abundant

or because cmy hand had found much,

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

or ethe moon moving in splendor,

²⁷and my heart has been secretly enticed,

and my mouth has kissed my hand,

²⁸this 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),

³¹if 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),

³³if I khave concealed my transgressions las others do6

by hiding my iniquity in my heart,

³⁴because 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—

³⁵Oh, 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!

³⁶Surely I would carry it on my pshoulder;

I would qbind it on me as ra crown;

³⁷I 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,

³⁹sif I have eaten its yield without payment

and made its owners tbreathe their last,

⁴⁰let uthorns grow instead of wheat,

and foul weeds instead of barley.”

The words of Job are ended.