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“I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a young woman.
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For what is our lot from God above, our heritage from the Almighty on high?
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Is it not ruin for the wicked, disaster for those who do wrong?
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Does he not see my ways and count my every step?
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“If I have walked with falsehood or my foot has hurried after deceit -
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let God weigh me in honest scales and he will know that I am blameless -
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if my steps have turned from the path, if my heart has been led by my eyes, or if my hands have been defiled,
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then may others eat what I have sown, and may my crops be uprooted.
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“If my heart has been enticed by a woman, or if I have lurked at my neighbor’s door,
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then may my wife grind another man’s grain, and may other men sleep with her.
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For that would have been wicked, a sin to be judged.
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It is a fire that burns to Destruction; it would have uprooted my harvest.
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“If I have denied justice to any of my servants, whether male or female, when they had a grievance against me,
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what will I do when God confronts me? What will I answer when he called to account?
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Did not he who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same one form us both within our mothers?
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“If I have denied the desires of the poor or let the eyes of the widow grow weary,
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if I have kept my bread to myself, not sharing it with the fatherless -
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bur from my youth I reared them as a father would, and from my birth I guided the widow -
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if I have seen anyone perishing for lack of clothing, or the needy without garments,
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and their hearts did not bless me for warming them with the fleece from my sheep,
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if I have raised my hand against the fatherless, knowing that I had influence in court,
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then let my arm fall from the shoulder, let it be broken off at the joint.
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For I dreaded destruction from God, and for fear of his splendor I could not do such things.
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“If I have put my trust in gold or said to pure gold, ‘You are my security,’
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if I have rejoiced over my great wealth, the fortune my hands had gained,
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if I have regarded the sun in its radiance or the moon moving in splendor,
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so that my heart was secretly enticed and my hand offered them a kiss of homage,
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then these also would be sins to be judged, for I would have been unfaithful to God on high.
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“If I have rejoiced at my enemy’s misfortune or gloated over the trouble that came to him -
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I have not allowed my mouth to sin by invoking a curse against their life -
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if those of my household have never said, ‘Who has not been filled with Job’s meat?‘ -
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but no stranger had to spend the night in the street, for my door was always open to the traveler -
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if I have concealed my sin as people do, by hiding my guilt in my heart
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because I so feared the crowd and so dreaded the contempt of the clans that I kept silent and would not go outside -
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(“Oh, that I had someone to hear me! I sign now my defense – let the Almighty answer me; let my accuser put his indictment in writing.
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Surely I would wear it on my shoulder, I would put it on like a crown.
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I would give him an account of my every step; I would present it to him as to a ruler.) -
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“if my land cries out against me and all its furrows are wet with tears,
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if I have devoured its yield without payment or broken the spirit of its tenants,
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then let briers come up instead of wheat and stinkweed instead of barley.” the words of Job are ended.
