Job 31 · Clearspring

Job’s Final Appeal

¹“I have made a covenant with my eyes. How then could I gaze with desire at a virgin?+ ²For what is the allotment of God from above, or the heritage from the Almighty on high?+ ³Does not disaster come to the unjust and calamity to the workers of iniquity?+ ⁴Does He not see my ways and count my every step?+ ⁵If I have walked in falsehood or my foot has rushed to deceit,+ ⁶let God weigh me with honest scales, that He may know my integrity.+ ⁷If my steps have turned from the path, if my heart has followed my eyes, or if impurity has stuck to my hands,+ ⁸then may another eat what I have sown, and may my crops be uprooted.+ ⁹If my heart has been enticed by my neighbor’s wife, or I have lurked at his door,+ ¹⁰then may my own wife grind grain for another, and may other men sleep with her.+ ¹¹For that would be a heinous crime, an iniquity to be judged.+ ¹²For it is a fire that burns down to Abaddon; it would root out my entire harvest.+ ¹³If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or maidservant when they made a complaint against me,+ ¹⁴what will I do when God rises to judge? How will I answer when called to account?+ ¹⁵Did not He who made me in the womb also make them? Did not the same One form us in the womb?+ ¹⁶If I have denied the desires of the poor or allowed the widow’s eyes to fail,+ ¹⁷if I have eaten my morsel alone, not sharing it with the fatherless —+ ¹⁸though from my youth I reared him as would a father, and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow —+ ¹⁹if I have seen one perish for lack of clothing, or a needy man without a cloak,+ ²⁰if his heart has not blessed me for warming him with the fleece of my sheep,+ ²¹if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless because I saw that I had support in the gate,+ ²²then may my arm fall from my shoulder and be torn from its socket.+ ²³For calamity from God terrifies me, and His splendor I cannot overpower.+ ²⁴If I have put my trust in gold or called pure gold my security,+ ²⁵if I have rejoiced in my great wealth because my hand had gained so much,+ ²⁶if I have beheld the sun in its radiance or the moon moving in splendor,+ ²⁷so that my heart was secretly enticed and my hand threw a kiss from my mouth,+ ²⁸this would also be an iniquity to be judged, for I would have denied God on high.+ ²⁹If I have rejoiced in my enemy’s ruin, or exulted when evil befell him —+ ³⁰I have not allowed my mouth to sin by asking for his life with a curse —+ ³¹if the men of my house have not said, ‘Who is there who has not had his fill?’—+ ³²but no stranger had to lodge on the street, for my door has been open to the traveler —+ ³³if I have covered my transgressions like Adam by hiding my guilt in my heart,+ ³⁴because I greatly feared the crowds and the contempt of the clans terrified me, so that I kept silent and would not go outside —+ ³⁵(Oh, that I had one to hear me! Here is my signature. Let the Almighty answer me; let my accuser compose an indictment.+ ³⁶Surely I would carry it on my shoulder and wear it like a crown.+ ³⁷I would give account of all my steps; I would approach Him like a prince.)—+ ³⁸if my land cries out against me and its furrows weep together,+ ³⁹if I have devoured its produce without payment or broken the spirit of its tenants,+ ⁴⁰then let briers grow instead of wheat and stinkweed instead of barley.” Thus conclude the words of Job.+

Job’s Final Appeal

Study Job 31