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