Job 31-32

Job 31

¹“I have made a covenant with my eyes. How then could I gaze with desire at a virgin?

²For what is the allotment of God from above, or the heritage from the Almighty on high?

³Does not disaster come to the unjust and calamity to the workers of iniquity?

⁴Does He not see my ways and count my every step?

⁵If I have walked in falsehood or my foot has rushed to deceit,

⁶let God weigh me with honest scales, that He may know my integrity.

⁷If my steps have turned from the path, if my heart has followed my eyes, or if impurity has stuck to my hands,

⁸then may another eat what I have sown, and may my crops be uprooted.

⁹If my heart has been enticed by my neighbor’s wife, or I have lurked at his door,

¹⁰then may my own wife grind grain for another, and may other men sleep with her.

¹¹For that would be a heinous crime, an iniquity to be judged.

¹²For it is a fire that burns down to Abaddon; it would root out my entire harvest.

¹³If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or maidservant when they made a complaint against me,

¹⁴what will I do when God rises to judge? How will I answer when called to account?

¹⁵Did not He who made me in the womb also make them? Did not the same One form us in the womb?

¹⁶If I have denied the desires of the poor or allowed the widow’s eyes to fail,

¹⁷if I have eaten my morsel alone, not sharing it with the fatherless—

¹⁸though from my youth I reared him as would a father, and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow—

¹⁹if I have seen one perish for lack of clothing, or a needy man without a cloak,

²⁰if his heart has not blessed me for warming him with the fleece of my sheep,

²¹if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless because I saw that I had support in the gate,

²²then may my arm fall from my shoulder and be torn from its socket.

²³For calamity from God terrifies me, and His splendor I cannot overpower.

²⁴If I have put my trust in gold or called pure gold my security,

²⁵if I have rejoiced in my great wealth because my hand had gained so much,

²⁶if I have beheld the sun in its radiance or the moon moving in splendor,

²⁷so that my heart was secretly enticed and my hand threw a kiss from my mouth,

²⁸this would also be an iniquity to be judged, for I would have denied God on high.

²⁹If I have rejoiced in my enemy’s ruin, or exulted when evil befell him—

³⁰I have not allowed my mouth to sin by asking for his life with a curse—

³¹if the men of my house have not said, ‘Who is there who has not had his fill?’—

³²but no stranger had to lodge on the street, for my door has been open to the traveler—

³³if I have covered my transgressions like Adam by hiding my guilt in my heart,

³⁴because 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 an indictment.

³⁶Surely I would carry it on my shoulder and wear it like a crown.

³⁷I would give account of all my steps; I would approach Him like a prince.)—

³⁸if my land cries out against me and its furrows weep together,

³⁹if I have devoured its produce without payment or broken the spirit of its tenants,

⁴⁰then let briers grow instead of wheat and stinkweed instead of barley.” Thus conclude the words of Job.

Job 32

¹So these three men stopped answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes.

²This kindled the anger of Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram. He burned with anger against Job for justifying himself rather than God,

³and he burned with anger against Job’s three friends because they had failed to refute Job, and yet had condemned him.

⁴Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job because the others were older than he.

⁵But when he saw that the three men had no further reply, his anger was kindled.

⁶So Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite declared: “I am young in years, while you are old; that is why I was timid and afraid to tell you what I know.

⁷I thought that age should speak, and many years should teach wisdom.

⁸But there is a spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding.

⁹It is not only the old who are wise, or the elderly who understand justice.

¹⁰Therefore I say, ‘Listen to me; I too will declare what I know.’

¹¹Indeed, I waited while you spoke; I listened to your reasoning; as you searched for words,

¹²I paid you full attention. But no one proved Job wrong; not one of you rebutted his arguments.

¹³So do not claim, ‘We have found wisdom; let God, not man, refute him.’

¹⁴But Job has not directed his words against me, and I will not answer him with your arguments.

¹⁵Job’s friends are dismayed, with no more to say; words have escaped them.

¹⁶Must I wait, now that they are silent, now that they stand and no longer reply?

¹⁷I too will answer; yes, I will declare what I know.

¹⁸For I am full of words, and my spirit within me compels me.

¹⁹Behold, my belly is like unvented wine; it is about to burst like a new wineskin.

²⁰I must speak and find relief; I must open my lips and respond.

²¹I will be partial to no one, nor will I flatter any man.

²²For I do not know how to flatter, or my Maker would remove me in an instant.