1“I vowed to myself never to look with desire at young women.
2What should people expect to receive from God? What reward should the Almighty on high give them?
3Isn't it disaster for the wicked and destruction for those who do wrong?
4Doesn't God see everything I do—even count every step I take?
5Have I lived a deceitful life? Have I been eager to tell lies? 198
6No! Let God weigh me on the scales of his justice and let him discover my integrity.
7If I have wandered from God's way, if I have let what I see become my desires, 199if there's any stain of sin on my hands,
8then let someone else eat what I have sown, and all that I have grown be uprooted.
9If a woman has seduced me, or if I have looked for an opportunity to sleep with my neighbor's wife, 200
10then let my wife serve 201another, let other men sleep with her.
11For that would be wicked, a sin deserving punishment,
12for this sin is like a fire that leads to destruction, 202destroying everything I have.
13If I had refused to listen to my menservants or maidservants when they brought their complaints to me,
14what would I do when God came to judge me? How would I reply if he investigated me?
15Didn't the same God make all of us? 203
16Have I refused to give the poor what they needed, or caused widows to despair?
17Have I even eaten just a piece of bread by myself? Haven't I always shared my food with orphans?
18From when I was young I was a father to orphans and took care of widows.
19If ever I saw someone needing clothes, the poor without anything to wear,
20they always thanked me for the wool clothing that kept them warm.
21If I raised my hand to hit an orphan, confident that if it came to court the judges would be on my side, 204
22then let my shoulder be pulled from its joint, my arm wrenched out of its socket.
23Since I'm terrified of what punishment God may have in store for me, and because of his majesty, I could never do this.
24Have I put my trust in gold, calling fine gold, ‘My security’?
25Have I delighted in being rich, happy at all my wealth I had gained?
26Have I looked at the sun shining so brilliantly or the moon moving in majesty across the sky
27and been tempted to secretly worship them by kissing my hand 205to them in devotion?
28This too would be a sin deserving punishment 206for it would mean I had denied God above.
29Have I ever been happy when disaster destroyed those who hated me, or celebrated when evil took them down?
30I have never allowed my mouth to sin by putting a curse on someone's life.
31Haven't my family asked, ‘Is there anyone who has not eaten as much as they wanted of his food?’
32I have never let strangers sleep in the street; I have opened my doors to travelers.
33Have I concealed my sins from others, hiding my wrongdoing deep inside me?
34Was I afraid of what everybody else would think, scared of the contempt families would show me, so that I kept quiet and didn't go outside?
35Why won't anyone listen to what I'm saying! I'm signing my name to endorse everything I've said. 207Let the Almighty answer me. Let my accuser write down what he is charging me with.
36I would hold them up high; 208I would wear them on my head like a crown.
37I would explain to him everything I'd done; I would hold my head high before him. 209
38If my land has cried out against me; if her furrows have wept over me;
39if I have taken its crops without payment or if I have caused harm to the farmers;
40then let thorns grow instead of wheat, and weeds instead of barley.” 210The words of Job are ended.
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