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Job 31 - Good News Bible bible

Job 31

¹I have made a solemn promise never to look with lust at a woman.

²What does Almighty God do to us? How does he repay human deeds?

³He sends disaster and ruin to those who do wrong.

⁴God knows everything I do; he sees every step I take.

⁵I swear I have never acted wickedly and never tried to deceive others.

⁶Let God weigh me on honest scales, and he will see how innocent I am.

⁷If I have turned from the right path or let myself be attracted to evil, if my hands are stained with sin,

⁸then let my crops be destroyed, or let others eat the food I grow.

⁹If I have been attracted to my neighbor's wife, and waited, hidden, outside her door,

¹⁰then let my wife cook another man's food and sleep in another man's bed.

¹¹Such wickedness should be punished by death.

¹²It would be like a destructive, hellish fire, consuming everything I have.

¹³When any of my servants complained against me, I would listen and treat them fairly.

¹⁴If I did not, how could I then face God? What could I say when God came to judge me?

¹⁵The same God who created me created my servants also.

¹⁶I have never refused to help the poor; never have I let widows live in despair

¹⁷or let orphans go hungry while I ate.

¹⁸All my life I have taken care of them.

¹⁹When I found someone in need, too poor to buy clothes,

²⁰I would give him clothing made of wool that had come from my own flock of sheep. Then he would praise me with all his heart.

²¹If I have ever cheated an orphan, knowing I could win in court,

²²then may my arms be broken; may they be torn from my shoulders.

²³Because I fear God's punishment, I could never do such a thing.

²⁴I have never trusted in riches

²⁵or taken pride in my wealth.

²⁶I have never worshiped the sun in its brightness or the moon in all its beauty.

²⁷I have not been led astray to honor them by kissing my hand in reverence to them.

²⁸Such a sin should be punished by death; it denies Almighty God.

²⁹I have never been glad when my enemies suffered, or pleased when they met with disaster;

³⁰I never sinned by praying for their death.

³¹All those who work for me know that I have always welcomed strangers.

³²I invited travelers into my home and never let them sleep in the streets.

³³Others try to hide their sins, but I have never concealed mine.

³⁴I have never feared what people would say; I have never kept quiet or stayed indoors because I feared their scorn.

³⁵Will no one listen to what I am saying? I swear that every word is true. Let Almighty God answer me. If the charges my opponent brings against me were written down so that I could see them,

³⁶I would wear them proudly on my shoulder and place them on my head like a crown.

³⁷I would tell God everything I have done, and hold my head high in his presence.

³⁸If I have stolen the land I farm and taken it from its rightful owners---

³⁹if I have eaten the food that grew there but let the farmers that grew it starve---

⁴⁰then instead of wheat and barley, may weeds and thistles grow. The words of Job are ended.