Job

I Swear I Am Innocent!

I have made a covenant with my eyes not to look at a virgin.

For what is man’s lot from God above, his inheritance from the Almighty above?

Is it destruction for the wicked, disaster for the wrongdoer?

Does he not see my ways and count all my steps?

Have I walked in falsehood? Have my feet hurried toward deception?

Let me be weighed on honest scales, so that God may know I am innocent.

If my steps have turned from the way and my heart’s desire has strayed, if my hands have been stained,

then let others eat what I have sown, or may my crops be struck down.

If I have been enticed by a woman, if I have lurked at my neighbor’s door,

then may my wife grind for another, and may other men sleep with her.

For that is enough to make one ashamed, a crime that should be utterly condemned.

For it is a fire that burns to destruction; it would have consumed all my possessions.

If I have denied justice to my servants when they had a grievance against me,

what would I do when confronted by God? What would I answer when called to account?

No less than I, they too were formed in the womb by the same God who formed us all within our mothers.

Have I deprived the poor of anything, or caused the widow’s eyes to suffer?

Have I eaten my food alone, without sharing it with the fatherless?

No! Since my youth, I have cared for him, and from my mother’s womb, I have guided the widow.

Have I seen a man cold and shivering, destitute, in need of clothing,

who did not bless me in his heart for providing the warmth of my fleece?

If I have raised my hand against the orphan, trusting in my power and influence,

then let my shoulder slip from its socket, let my arm be broken at the joint.

For I feared God’s sent calamity, and how could I stand in his presence?

If I have placed my trust in gold or sought my security from it,

if I have gloated over my wealth, my fortune and accomplishments,

if I have regarded the sun in its radiance or the moon in its splendor,

and having been enticed offered them a kiss of my hand in homage,

then these also would be sins to judge for I would have been unfaithful to God.

Have I rejoiced at my enemy’s misfortune or gloated over the disaster that came his way?

I have not even allowed my mouth to sin by invoking a curse against him.

Those of my household used to say, “Who has not been fed with Job’s meat?”

No traveler ever spent the night on the street, because my door was always open to guests.

Have I, out of human weakness, hidden my sins and concealed guilt in my heart,

keeping silent on my own, because I feared the crowd and their contempt?

Oh, that I had someone to hear me! Let the Almighty answer! This is my plea. Let my accuser write his indictment

and I will wear it on my shoulder, or bind it around my head like a turban.

I would give him an account of every step I take, and go as boldly as a prince to meet him.

If my land has cried against me and its furrows wept

because I have eaten its fruits unjustly after getting rid of its owners,

let thorns grow instead of wheat and weeds in the place of barley.This is the end of Job’s words.