Job's Oath of a Clean Heart
Job ends with an oath, opening his life item by item: no lust, no lying, no denying a servant justice, no eating alone while an orphan went hungry, no trusting gold. He signs it and demands the indictment. Then his words simply stop.
31 1"I made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin? 2For what portion would I have from God above, what inheritance from the Almighty on high? 3Is it not calamity for the unjust, and disaster for those who do evil? 4Does he not see my ways, and count my every step?
5"If I have lived by falsehood, and my foot has rushed into deceit, 6let him weigh me on honest scales, and let God know my integrity, 7if my steps have turned from the way, and my heart has followed my eyes, and any stain has clung to my hands, 8then let me sow and another eat, and let what springs up for me be uprooted.
9"If my heart has been enticed by a woman, and I have lurked at my neighbor's door, 10then let my wife serve another man, and let others sleep with her. 11For that would be a shameful crime, a sin deserving judgment; 12for it is a fire that consumes down to Destruction, and would burn away all my harvest.
13"If I have denied justice to my male or female servant when they brought a complaint against me, 14what then will I do when God rises up? When he calls me to account, what will I answer him? 15Did not the one who made me in the womb make my servant also? Did not the same one form us both in the womb?
16"If I have kept the poor from what they needed, or let the widow's eyes grow weary, 17or eaten my food alone while the orphan went without, 18though from my youth I raised him as a father would, and from my mother's womb I guided the widow, 19if I have seen anyone perishing for lack of clothing, or a needy person with no covering, 20if his whole being has not blessed me for warming him with the fleece of my sheep, 21if I have raised my hand against the orphan because I saw my backing in the court, 22then let my shoulder be wrenched from its blade, and my arm be broken at the socket. 23For calamity from God was a terror to me, and before his majesty I could do nothing.
24"If I have made gold my confidence, or said to fine gold, 'You are my security,' 25if I have gloated that my wealth was great, that my hand had gained so much, 26if I have looked at the sun when it shone, or the moon moving in splendor, 27so that my heart was secretly enticed, and my hand blew them a kiss in worship, 28this too would be a sin deserving judgment, for I would have been false to God above.
29"If I have rejoiced at the ruin of the one who hated me, or thrilled when harm overtook him. 30I never let my mouth sin by calling down a curse on his life, 31if the men of my household have never said, 'Who has not been filled from his table?', 32no stranger ever spent the night in the street, for I opened my doors to the traveler. 33If I have covered my sins as others do, hiding my guilt within my heart, 34because I so feared the crowd, and the contempt of clans terrified me, that I kept silent and would not go outside.
35"Oh, that someone would hear me! Here is my signature—let the Almighty answer me! Let my accuser write out his indictment! 36Surely I would carry it on my shoulder, I would bind it on me like a crown. 37I would give him an account of my every step; like a prince I would approach him.
38"If my land has cried out against me, and its furrows have wept together, 39if I have eaten its yield without payment, or crushed the life out of its owners, 40then let thistles grow instead of wheat, and stinkweed instead of barley." The words of Job are ended.
