Job’s Final Appeal 1 UDB "I made to myself a solemn promise that I would not look at a young woman and want to sleep with her. BSB BSB: “I have made a covenant with my eyes. How then could I gaze with desire at a virgin?
2 UDB If I did not do what I promised, what would God who is in heaven give me? Almighty God would certainly not give me any reward! BSB BSB: For what is the allotment of God from above, or the heritage from the Almighty on high?
3 UDB Previously I thought that surely it was unrighteous people who would experience calamities, and that it was those who do what is wrong who would experience disasters. BSB BSB: Does not disaster come to the unjust and calamity to the workers of iniquity?
4 UDB God certainly sees everything that I do, so why is he causing me to suffer? It is as though he were counting every step that I take. BSB BSB: Does He not see my ways and count my every step?
5 UDB I solemnly declare that I have never acted wickedly and have never tried to deceive people. BSB BSB: If I have walked in falsehood or my foot has rushed to deceit,
6 UDB I request only that God judge me fairly; if he does that, he will know that I am innocent. BSB BSB: let God weigh me with honest scales, that He may know my integrity.
7 UDB If it were true that I had turned away from walking on the right paths, or that I had seen wrong things to do and then did them, or that my hands were stained because I had sinned, BSB BSB: If my steps have turned from the path, if my heart has followed my eyes, or if impurity has stuck to my hands,
8 UDB then I hope that when I plant seeds, someone else will harvest the crops and eat them, and that others will uproot the crops that I have planted. BSB BSB: then may another eat what I have sown, and may my crops be uprooted.
9 UDB If it is true that I have been attracted by some other man's wife, or that I have hidden myself and waited outside the door to her house, BSB BSB: If my heart has been enticed by my neighbor’s wife, or I have lurked at his door,
10 UDB I hope another man will sleep with my own wife and that she will sleep with him. BSB BSB: then may my own wife grind grain for another, and may other men sleep with her.
11 UDB For me to do that would be a terrible sin, and the judges would decide that I should be punished. BSB BSB: For that would be a heinous crime, an iniquity to be judged.
12 UDB My adultery would produce in me a fire like the fire that burns people in hell, and it would burn up everything that I own. BSB BSB: For it is a fire that burns down to Abaddon; it would root out my entire harvest.
13 UDB If it is true that I have ever refused to listen to one of my male or female servants when they complained to me about something, BSB BSB: If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or maidservant when they made a complaint against me,
14 UDB I hope that God would stand up and declare that he will punish me; when he does that, what could I do? If he asked me about what I have done, what would I answer? BSB BSB: what will I do when God rises to judge? How will I answer when called to account?
15 UDB God, who created me, certainly also created my servants; surely he is the one who formed them and me in our mothers' wombs, so we all should behave toward each other in the same way. BSB BSB: Did not He who made me in the womb also make them? Did not the same One form us in the womb?
16 UDB From the time I was young I have taken care of orphans; All my life I have never given the widowed mothers a reason to lose hope. So if it is true that I ate all my food myself and did not share some of it with orphans, or that I refused to give poor people the things that they wanted, or that I caused widows to live in despair, then you do to me whatever you must do to me. BSB BSB: If I have denied the desires of the poor or allowed the widow’s eyes to fail,
19 UDB If I had seen people die from cold because they had no clothes, or that I had seen poor people who did not have clothes to keep them warm, BSB BSB: if I have seen one perish for lack of clothing, or a needy man without a cloak,
20 UDB and they were not able to become warm from clothes made from the wool of my sheep and they thanked me for it, BSB BSB: if his heart has not blessed me for warming him with the fleece of my sheep,
21 UDB or if it is true that I threatened to strike any orphan because I knew that the elders at the city gates would approve of me, then do to me whatever you must do to me. BSB BSB: if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless because I saw that I had support in the gate,
22 UDB For if those things were true about me, I hope that my shoulder blade would be torn out and my arm be torn from my shoulder. BSB BSB: then may my arm fall from my shoulder and be torn from its socket.
23 UDB I always feared that God would cause me to experience a great disaster if I did any of those evil things, and I would not have been able to endure the powerful things that he would do to punish me. BSB BSB: For calamity from God terrifies me, and His splendor I cannot overpower.
24 UDB If it is true that I trusted in my gold, BSB BSB: If I have put my trust in gold or called pure gold my security,
25 UDB or that I rejoiced because I had acquired many things and had become very rich, BSB BSB: if I have rejoiced in my great wealth because my hand had gained so much,
26 UDB or that I looked at the sun when it was shining, or that I looked at the beautiful moon, BSB BSB: if I have beheld the sun in its radiance or the moon moving in splendor,
27 UDB and I had been tempted to worship them by kissing my hand to honor them, BSB BSB: so that my heart was secretly enticed and my hand threw a kiss from my mouth,
28 UDB those things also would be sins for which the judges would say that I must be punished because I would have been rejecting God by doing those things. BSB BSB: this would also be an iniquity to be judged, for I would have denied God on high.
29 UDB It is not true that I sinned by requesting God to curse people who hated me and to cause them to die because I was angry with them. It is not true that I was glad when they were ruined or that I rejoiced when they experienced disasters. No! BSB BSB: If I have rejoiced in my enemy’s ruin, or exulted when evil befell him—
31 UDB No one can truthfully that I did not welcome travelers to stay in my house, or that I did not open my doors to them, but that I forced them to sleep in the streets! All the men who work for me certainly know that I have given food to anyone who needed it! BSB BSB: if the men of my house have not said, ‘Who is there who has not had his fill?’—
33 UDB Some people try to hide their sins, but I have never done that; BSB BSB: if I have covered my transgressions like Adam by hiding my guilt in my heart,
34 UDB and I never remained silent and refused to go outside because I was afraid of what people would say about me, and that they would hate me. BSB BSB: because I greatly feared the crowds and the contempt of the clans terrified me, so that I kept silent and would not go outside—
35 UDB I wish that there was someone who would hear what I am saying! I solemnly declare that all that I have said is true. I wish that those who oppose me would write down on a scroll the evil things that they say that I did. BSB BSB: (Oh, that I had one to hear me! Here is my signature. Let the Almighty answer me; let my accuser compose an indictment.
36 UDB If they did that, I would wear that scroll on my shoulder or on top of my head, in order that everyone could see it. BSB BSB: Surely I would carry it on my shoulder and wear it like a crown.
37 UDB I would tell God everything that I have done, and I would approach him like a ruler would, without being afraid. BSB BSB: I would give account of all my steps; I would approach Him like a prince.)—
38 UDB If it is true that I have stolen land, so that its furrows were like someone who shouted out to accuse me; BSB BSB: if my land cries out against me and its furrows weep together,
39 UDB or that I have eaten the crops that grew in someone else's fields without paying for those crops, so that the farmers who grew those crops died from hunger; BSB BSB: if I have devoured its produce without payment or broken the spirit of its tenants,
40 UDB then I wish that thorns would grow in my fields instead of wheat, and that bad weeds would grow instead of barley!" That is the end of what Job said to his three friends. BSB BSB: then let briers grow instead of wheat and stinkweed instead of barley.” Thus conclude the words of Job.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.