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Job’s Final Appeal

¹ I have made a covenant with my eyes. How then could I gaze with desire at a virgin?² For what is the allotment of God from above, or the heritage from the Almighty on high?³ Does not disaster come to the unjust and calamity to the workers of iniquity?⁴ Does He not see my ways and count my every step?⁵ If I have walked in falsehood or my foot has rushed to deceit,⁶ let God weigh me with honest scales, and He will know my integrity.⁷ If my steps have turned from the path, if my heart has followed my eyes, or impurity has stuck to my hands,⁸ then may another eat what I have sown, and may my crops be uprooted.

⁹ If my heart has been enticed by my neighbor’s wife, or I have lurked at his door,¹⁰ then may my own wife grind grain for another, and may other men sleep with her.¹¹ For that would be a heinous crime, an iniquity to be judged.¹² For it is a fire that burns down to Abaddon^(a); it would root out my entire harvest.¹³ If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or maidservant when they made a complaint against me,¹⁴ what will I do when God rises to judge? How will I answer when called to account?¹⁵ Did not He who made me in the womb also make them? Did not the same One form us in the womb?

¹⁶ If I have denied the desires of the poor or allowed the widow’s eyes to fail,¹⁷ if I have eaten my morsel alone, not sharing it with the fatherless—¹⁸ though from my youth I reared him as would a father, and from my mother's womb I guided the widow—¹⁹ if I have seen one perish for lack of clothing, or a needy man without a cloak,²⁰ if his heart has not blessed me^(a) for warming him with the fleece of my sheep,²¹ if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless because I saw that I had support in the gate,²² then may my arm fall from my shoulder and be torn from its socket.²³ For calamity from God terrifies me, and His splendor I cannot overpower.

²⁴ If I have put my trust in gold or called pure gold my security,²⁵ if I have rejoiced in my great wealth because my hand had gained so much,²⁶ if I have regarded the sun^(a) in its radiance or the moon moving in splendor,²⁷ so that my heart was secretly enticed and my hand threw a kiss from my mouth,²⁸ this would also be an iniquity to be judged, for I would have denied God on high.²⁹ If I have rejoiced in my enemy’s ruin, or exulted when evil befell him—³⁰ I have not allowed my mouth to sin by asking for his life with a curse—³¹ if the men of my house have not said, ‘Who is there who has not had his fill?’—³² but no stranger had to lodge on the street, for my door has been open to the traveler—

³³ if I have covered my transgressions like Adam^(a) by hiding my guilt in my heart,³⁴ because I greatly feared the crowds, and the contempt of the clans terrified me, so that I kept silent and would not go outside—³⁵ Oh, that I had one to hear me! Here is my signature—let the Almighty answer me; let my accuser compose His indictment.³⁶ Surely I would carry it on my shoulder and wear it like a crown.³⁷ I would give account of all my steps; I would approach Him like a prince.³⁸ If my land cries out against me and its furrows weep together,³⁹ if I have devoured its produce without payment or broken the spirit of its tenants,⁴⁰ then let briers grow instead of wheat and stinkweed instead of barley.” Thus conclude the words of Job.