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[1]I Made a covenant with my eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?
[2]For what portion of God is there from above? and what inheritance of the Almighty from on high?
[3]Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity?
[4]Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps?
[5]If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit;
[6]Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know my integrity.
[7]If my step hath turned out of the way, and my heart walked after my eyes, and if any blot hath cleaved to my hands;
[8]Then let me sow, and let another eat; yes, let my offspring be rooted out.
[9]If my heart hath been deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at my neighbor's door;
[10]Then let my wife grind to another, and let others bow down upon her.
[11]For this is a hainous crime; yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges.
[12]For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and would root out all my increase.
[13]If I despised the cause of my man-servant or of my maid-servant, when they contended with me;
[14]What then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him?
[15]Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb?
[16]If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail;
[17]Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten of it;
[18](For from my youth he was brought up with me, as with a father, and I have guided her from my mother's womb;)
[19]If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering;
[20]If his loins have not blessed me, and if he hath not been warmed with the fleece of my sheep;
[21]If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate:
[22]Then let my arm fall from my shoulder-blade, and my arm be broken from the bone.
[23]For destruction from God was a terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure.
[24]If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence;
[25]If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because my hand had gained much;
[26]If I have beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness;
[27]And my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand:
[28]This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should have denied the God that is above.
[29]If I have rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, or have lifted up myself when evil found him:
[30]Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his soul.
[31]If the men of my tabernacle have not said, Oh that we had of his flesh! we cannot be satisfied.
[32]The stranger did not lodge in the street: but I opened my doors to the traveler.
[33]If I have covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding my iniquity in my bosom:
[34]Did I fear a great multitude, or did the contempt of families terrify me, that I kept silence, and went not out of the door?
[35]Oh that one would hear me! behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, and that my adversary had written a book.
[36]Surely I would take it upon my shoulder, and bind it as a crown to me.
[37]I would declare to him the number of my steps; as a prince would I go near to him.
[38]If my land crieth against me, or its furrows likewise complain;
[39]If I have eaten the fruits of it without money, or have caused its owners to lose their life:
[40]Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.
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