Job:31

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* A covenant had I made with my eyes : how then should I fix my look on a virgin ? * And what then would have been my portion of God from above ? and what lot of the Almighty from on high ? * Is not calamity for the unjust ? and misfortune for the wrong –doers ? * Behold , he truly seeth my ways , and numbereth all my steps ; * whether I have walked with vain desires , or if my foot hath hastened after deceit . * Let him weigh me then in a righteous balance , and let God acknowledge my integrity , * If my step have turned aside from the way , and my heart have walked after my eyes , and if any blemish have cleaved to my hands : * Then let me sow , and let another eat ; and let what I have growing be rooted out . * If my heart have been beguiled toward a woman , or if I have lain in wait at my neighbor ’s door : * Then may my wife labor at the mill for another , and may strangers ill –use her ; * For this would be incest ; yea , it would be an iniquity the judges ; * For it would be a fire that consumeth down to the place of corruption , and would root out all my products . * If ever I cast aside the justice due to my man –servant and my maid –servant , when they contended with me : * What then could I do when God should rise up ? and when he should investigate , what could I answer him ? * Did not he that made me make him born or a woman ? and did not the same one fashion us in the womb ? * If ever I denied the wish of the indigent , or ever allowed the eyes of the widow to fall ; * Or if ever I ate my bread by myself alone , and the fatherless did not eat thereof ; * (For from my youth he was brought up with me , as though we were of one father , and I have guided her from my mother ’s womb ;) * If ever I saw any one perishing for want of clothing , or the needy without covering : * If his loins have not blessed me , and if he have not been warmed with the fleece of my sheep ; * If I have swung my hand against the fatherless , because I saw in the gate those that would help me : * Then may my shoulder fall from my shoulder –blade , and my arm be broken from the channel –bone ; * For dreaded by me was the calamitous punishment of God , and against his highness I can accomplish nothing . * If I have made gold my confidence , or have said to the fine gold , Thou art my trust : * If ever I rejoiced because my wealth was abundant , and because my hand had gotten much ; * If ever I looked at the light when he shone brightly and on the moon walking in splendor : * And my heart became misled in secret , and my hand kissed my mouth : * This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge ; for thus would I have denied the God that is above . * If ever I rejoiced at the downfall of him that hated me , or was elated when evil befell him ; –– * But I suffered not my mouth to sin by denouncing with a curse his soul :–– * If the men of my tent said not , Oh is there one that is not satisfied of his flesh ; –– * In the street a stranger had not to lodge ; my doors I held open to the roadside ; * If I covered up my transgressions like a common man , by hiding in my bosom my iniquity ; * Because I dreaded the great multitude , or because the contempt of families did terrify me , so that I kept silence , and dared not to go out of the door ; –– * Oh who will bring me one that would hear me ! behold , here is my plea ; may the Almighty answer me ; and any record which my opponent may have written ,–– * Surely upon my shoulder would I carry it : I would bind it as a crown unto me . * The number of my steps would I tell him : as a prince would I go near unto him .–– * If my land ever cried out because of me , or if its furrows wept together ; * If I ever consumed its strength without payment , or caused the soul of its owners to grieve : * Then may instead of wheat , thorns come forth , and instead of barley , cockle . (Here end the words of Job .)

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