Job's Extended Defense: God's Power and the Friends' Failings (part 4)
Job 31:12-40
12For fire itself reaches to Abaddon to consume, and it uproots all my produce.13If I reject the justice of my servant or my maidservant when they contend with me,14And what shall I do when God arises, and when he reckons what I must repay him?15Did not the one who made me make him in the belly, and prepare us in one womb?16If I withhold pleasure from the poor or cause the eye of the widow to fail,17And if I eat my morsel alone so that the orphan does not eat from it,18For from my youth he raised me as a father, and from my mother's womb I guided her.19If I see one perishing without clothing and without covering for the needy.20If his loins have not blessed me, and if the fleece of my lambs has not warmed them.21If I have waved my hand against the orphan when I saw my help in the gate.22Let my shoulder fall from its shoulder and my arm break from its branch.23For the dread of God toward me is calamity, and from his majesty I am unable.24If I have set gold as my confidence and said to fine gold, 'You are my trust,'25If I rejoice because my wealth is great and because my hand has found much.26If I see the light when it shines and the precious moon as it moves,27And my heart is secretly enticed so that my hand kisses my mouth.28This also would be iniquity to be judged, for I would have denied God who is above.29If I rejoice at the disaster of one who hates me or rouse myself when evil finds him,30And I have not permitted my palate to sin by asking his life with an oath.31If the men of my tent have not said, 'Who will give us of his flesh that we may be satisfied?'32The sojourner does not lodge outside; I open my door to the traveler.33If I have covered my transgression like Adam by hiding my iniquity in my bosom,34For I fear a great multitude, and the contempt of families dismays me, so I remain silent and do not go out the door.35Oh, that I had one to hear me! Look, here is my signature; let the Almighty answer me, and let the man who contends with me write a document.36If I do not carry it upon my shoulder and bind it as a crown for myself,37I would declare the number of my steps like a prince; I would present it.38If my land cries out against me and its furrows weep together,39If I have consumed its strength without payment and diminished the life of its owners,40Let thistle come out instead of wheat and foul weed instead of barley. The words of Job are finished.