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I made a covenant with mine eyes, And I will not think upon a virgin.
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Now what portion has God given from above? And is there an inheritance given of the Mighty One from the highest?
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Alas! destruction to the unrighteous, And rejection to them that do iniquity.
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Will he not see my way, And number all my steps?
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But if I had gone with scorners, And if too my foot has hastened to deceit
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(For I am weighed in a just balance, And the Lord knows my innocence):
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If my foot has turned aside out of the way, Or if my heart has followed mine eye, And if too I have touched gifts with my hands;
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Then let me sow, and let others eat; And let me be uprooted on the earth.
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If my heart has gone forth after another man’s wife, And if I laid wait at her doors;
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Then let my wife also please another, And let my children be brought low.
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For the rage of anger is not to be controlled, In the case of defiling another man’s wife.
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For it is a fire burning on every side, And whomsoever it attacks, it utterly destroys.
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And if too I despised the judgment of my servant or my handmaid, When they pleaded with me;
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What then shall I do if the Lord should try me? And if also he should at all visit me, can I make an answer?
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Were not they too formed as I also was formed in the womb? Yea, we were formed in the same womb.
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But the helpless missed not whatever need they had, And I did not cause the eye of the widow to fail.
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And if too I ate my morsel alone, And did not impart of it to the orphan
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(For I nourished them as a father from my youth, And guided them from my mother’s womb).
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And if too I overlooked the naked as he was perishing, and did not clothe him;
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And if the poor did not bless me, And their shoulders were not warmed with the fleece of my lambs;
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If I lifted my hand against an orphan, Trusting that my strength was far superior to his:
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Let then my shoulder start from the bladebone, And my arm be crushed off from the elbow.
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For the fear of the Lord constrained me, And I cannot bear up by reason of his burden.
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If I made gold my treasure, And if too I trusted the precious stone;
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And if too I rejoiced when my wealth was abundant, And if too I laid my hand on innumerable treasures
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(Do we not see the shining sun eclipsed, And the moon waning? for they have not power to continue):
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And if my heart was secretly deceived, And if I have laid my hand upon my mouth and kissed it:
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Let this also then be reckoned to me as the greatest iniquity: For I should have lied against the Lord Most High.
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And if too I was glad at the fall of mine enemies, And my heart said, Aha!
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Let then mine ear hear my curse, And let me be a byword among my people in my affliction.
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And if too my handmaids have often said, Oh that we might be satisfied with his flesh (Whereas I was very kind:
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For the stranger did not lodge without, And my door was opened to everyone that came):
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Or if too having sinned unintentionally, I hid my sin
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(For I did not stand in awe of a great multitude, so as not to declare boldly before them): And if too I permitted a poor man to go out of my door with an empty bosom
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(Oh that I had a hearer), And if I had not feared the hand of the Lord; And as to the written charge which I had against anyone,
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I would place it as a chaplet on my shoulders, and read it.
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And if not, tearing it up I would return it, Having taken nothing from the debtor.
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If at any time the land groaned against me, And if its furrows mourned together;
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And if I ate its strength alone without price, And if too I grieved the heart of the owner of the soil, by taking aught from him:
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Then let the nettle come up to me instead of wheat, And a bramble instead of barley. And Job ceased speaking.