Job declares his innocence in a series of oaths: he has not looked lustfully, cheated, mistreated servants, ignored the poor or trusted in gold. He wishes the Almighty would answer him.
1 I made a covenant with mine 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 mine integrity .
7 If my step hath turned out of the way , and mine heart walked after mine eyes , and if any blot hath cleaved to mine hands ;
8 Then let me sow , and let another eat ; yea, let my offspring be rooted out .
9 If mine heart have been deceived by a woman , or if I have laid wait at my neighbour's door ;
10 Then let my wife grind unto another , and let others bow down upon her.
11 For this is an heinous 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 mine increase .
13 If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant , 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 thereof;
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 were not 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 mine arm fall from my shoulder blade , and mine 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 rejoiced because my wealth was great , and because mine hand had gotten much ;
26 If I 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 rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, or 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 said not, 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 traveller .
33 If I covered my transgressions as Adam , by hiding mine 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 mine 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 unto him the number of my steps ; as a prince would I go near unto him.
38 If my land cry against me, or that the furrows likewise thereof complain ;
39 If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money , or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life :
40 Let thistles grow instead of wheat , and cockle instead of barley . The words of Job are ended .