Job Asserts His Integrity

311 "I made a solemn pact with myself never to undress a girl with my eyes. 2 So what can I expect from God? What do I deserve from God Almighty above? 3 Isn't calamity reserved for the wicked? Isn't disaster supposed to strike those who do wrong? 4 Isn't God looking, observing how I live? Doesn't he mark every step I take? 5 "Have I walked hand in hand with falsehood, or hung out in the company of deceit? 6 Weigh me on a set of honest scales so God has proof of my integrity. 7 If I've strayed off the straight and narrow, wanted things I had no right to, messed around with sin, 8 Go ahead, then - give my portion to someone who deserves it.

9 "If I've let myself be seduced by a woman and conspired to go to bed with her, 10 Fine, my wife has every right to go ahead and sleep with anyone she wants to. 11 For disgusting behavior like that, I'd deserve the worst punishment you could hand out. 12 Adultery is a fire that burns the house down; I wouldn't expect anything I count dear to survive it. 13 "Have I ever been unfair to my employees when they brought a complaint to me? 14 What, then, will I do when God confronts me? When God examines my books, what can I say? 15 Didn't the same God who made me, make them? Aren't we all made of the same stuff, equals before God?

16 "Have I ignored the needs of the poor, turned my back on the indigent, 17 Taken care of my own needs and fed my own face while they languished? 18 Wasn't my home always open to them? Weren't they always welcome at my table? 19 "Have I ever left a poor family shivering in the cold when they had no warm clothes? 20 Didn't the poor bless me when they saw me coming, knowing I'd brought coats from my closet? 21 "If I've ever used my strength and influence to take advantage of the unfortunate, 22 Go ahead, break both my arms, cut off all my fingers! 23 The fear of God has kept me from these things - how else could I ever face him? If Only Someone Would Give Me a Hearing!

24 "Did I set my heart on making big money or worship at the bank? 25 Did I boast about my wealth, show off because I was well-off? 26 Was I ever so awed by the sun's brilliance and moved by the moon's beauty 27 That I let myself become seduced by them and worshiped them on the sly? 28 If so, I would deserve the worst of punishments, for I would be betraying God himself. 29 "Did I ever crow over my enemy's ruin? Or gloat over my rival's bad luck? 30 No, I never said a word of detraction, never cursed them, even under my breath. 31 "Didn't those who worked for me say, 'He fed us well. There were always second helpings'? 32 And no stranger ever had to spend a night in the street; my doors were always open to travelers.

33 Did I hide my sin the way Adam did, or conceal my guilt behind closed doors 34 Because I was afraid what people would say, fearing the gossip of the neighbors so much That I turned myself into a recluse? You know good and well that I didn't. 35 "Oh, if only someone would give me a hearing! I've signed my name to my defense - let the Almighty One answer! I want to see my indictment in writing. 36 Anyone's welcome to read my defense; I'll write it on a poster and carry it around town. 37 I'm prepared to account for every move I've ever made - to anyone and everyone, prince or pauper. 38 "If the very ground that I farm accuses me, if even the furrows fill with tears from my abuse, 39 If I've ever raped the earth for my own profit or dispossessed its rightful owners, 40 Then curse it with thistles instead of wheat, curse it with weeds instead of barley." The words of Job to his three friends were finished. Elihu Speaks

Job Bewails His Birth

31 Then Job broke the silence. He spoke up and cursed his fate: 2  3 "Obliterate the day I was born. Blank out the night I was conceived! 4 Let it be a black hole in space. May God above forget it ever happened. Erase it from the books! 5 May the day of my birth be buried in deep darkness, shrouded by the fog, swallowed by the night. 6 And the night of my conception - the devil take it! Rip the date off the calendar, delete it from the almanac. 7 Oh, turn that night into pure nothingness - no sounds of pleasure from that night, ever! 8 May those who are good at cursing curse that day. Unleash the sea beast, Leviathan, on it. 9 May its morning stars turn to black cinders, waiting for a daylight that never comes, never once seeing the first light of dawn. 10 And why? Because it released me from my mother's womb into a life with so much trouble.

11 "Why didn't I die at birth, my first breath out of the womb my last? 12 Why were there arms to rock me, and breasts for me to drink from? 13 I could be resting in peace right now, asleep forever, feeling no pain, 14 In the company of kings and statesmen in their royal ruins, 15 Or with princes resplendent in their gold and silver tombs. 16 Why wasn't I stillborn and buried with all the babies who never saw light, 17 Where the wicked no longer trouble anyone and bone-weary people get a long-deserved rest? 18 Prisoners sleep undisturbed, never again to wake up to the bark of the guards. 19 The small and the great are equals in that place, and slaves are free from their masters.

20 "Why does God bother giving light to the miserable, why bother keeping bitter people alive, 21 Those who want in the worst way to die, and can't, who can't imagine anything better than death, 22 Who count the day of their death and burial the happiest day of their life? 23 What's the point of life when it doesn't make sense, when God blocks all the roads to meaning? 24 "Instead of bread I get groans for my supper, then leave the table and vomit my anguish. 25 The worst of my fears has come true, what I've dreaded most has happened. 26 My repose is shattered, my peace destroyed. No rest for me, ever - death has invaded life."