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Job Finishes His Defence

29Job again took up his discourse and said:

31‘I have made a covenant with my eyes;
   how then could I look upon a virgin?
² What would be my portion from God above,
   and my heritage from the Almighty^* on high?
³ Does not calamity befall the unrighteous,
   and disaster the workers of iniquity?
⁴ Does he not see my ways,
   and number all my steps?

⁵ ‘If I have walked with falsehood,
   and my foot has hurried to deceit—
⁶ let me be weighed in a just balance,
   and let God know my integrity!—
⁷ if my step has turned aside from the way,
   and my heart has followed my eyes,
   and if any spot has clung to my hands;
⁸ then let me sow, and another eat;
   and let what grows for me be rooted out.

⁹ ‘If my heart has been enticed by a woman,
   and I have lain in wait at my neighbour’s door;
¹⁰ then let my wife grind for another,
   and let other men kneel over her.
¹¹ For that would be a heinous crime;
   that would be a criminal offence;
¹² for that would be a fire consuming down to Abaddon,
   and it would burn to the root all my harvest.

¹³ ‘If I have rejected the cause of my male or female slaves,
   when they brought a complaint against me;
¹⁴ what then shall I do when God rises up?
   When he makes inquiry, what shall I answer him?
¹⁵ Did not he who made me in the womb make them?
   And did not one fashion us in the womb?

¹⁶ ‘If I have withheld anything that the poor desired,
   or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
¹⁷ or have eaten my morsel alone,
   and the orphan has not eaten from it—
¹⁸ for from my youth I reared the orphan^* like a father,
   and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow^*—
¹⁹ if I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing,
   or a poor person without covering,
²⁰ whose loins have not blessed me,
   and who was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep;
²¹ if I have raised my hand against the orphan,
   because I saw I had supporters at the gate;
²² then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder,
   and let my arm be broken from its socket.
²³ For I was in terror of calamity from God,
   and I could not have faced his majesty.