| Chapter 31 |
1 | I made a covenant with mine eyes; and how should I fix my regard upon a maid?
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2 | For what would have been [my] portion of +God from above, and what the heritage of the Almighty from on high?
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3 | Is not calamity for the unrighteous? and misfortune for the workers of iniquity?
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4 | Doth not he see my ways, and number all my steps?
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5 | If I have walked with falsehood, and my foot hath hasted to deceit,
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6 | (Let me be weighed in an even balance, and +God will take knowledge of my blamelessness;)
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7 | If my step have turned out of the way, and my heart followed mine eyes, and if any blot cleaveth to my hands;
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8 | Let me sow, and another eat; and let mine offspring be rooted out.
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9 | If my heart have been enticed unto a woman, so that I laid wait at my neighbour's door,
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10 | Let my wife grind for another, and let others bow down upon her.
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11 | For this is an infamy; yea, it is an iniquity [to be judged by] the judges:
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12 | For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase.
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13 | If I have despised the cause of my bondman or of my bondmaid, when they contended with me,
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14 | What then should I do when łGod riseth up? and if he visited, what should I answer him?
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15 | Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not One fashion us in the womb?
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16 | If I have withheld the poor from [their] desire, or caused the eyes of the widow to fail;
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17 | Or have eaten my morsel alone, so that the fatherless ate not thereof,
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18 | (For from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, and I have guided the [widow] from my mother's womb;)
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19 | If I have seen any perishing for want of clothing, or any needy without covering;
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20 | If his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my lambs;
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21 | If I have lifted up my hand against an orphan, because I saw my help in the gate:
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22 | [Then] let my shoulder fall from the shoulder-blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone!
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23 | For calamity from łGod was a terror to me, and by reason of his excellency I was powerless.
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24 | If I have made gold my hope, or said to the fine gold, My confidence!
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25 | If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because my hand had gotten much;
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26 | If I beheld the sun when it shone, or the moon walking in brightness,
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27 | And my heart have been secretly enticed, so that my mouth kissed my hand:
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28 | This also would be an iniquity for the judge, for I should have denied the łGod who is above.
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29 | If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, and exulted when evil befell him;
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30 | (Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by asking his life with a curse;)
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31 | If the men of my tent said not, Who shall find one that hath not been satisfied with his meat? --
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32 | The stranger did not lodge without; I opened my doors to the pathway.
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33 | If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom,
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34 | Because I feared the great multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silence, and went not out of the door, ...
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35 | Oh that I had one to hear me! Behold my signature: let the Almighty answer me! And let mine opponent write an accusation!
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36 | Would I not take it upon my shoulder? I would bind it on to me [as] a crown;
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37 | I would declare unto him the number of my steps; as a prince would I come near to him.
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38 | If my land cry out against me, and its furrows weep together;
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39 | If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, and have tormented to death the souls of its owners:
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40 | Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and tares instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.
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