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| 1 A covenant, I solemnised for mine eyes,–How then could I gaze upon a virgin? |
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| 2 Or what would have been my portion of GOD from above? Or what inheritance of the Almighty from on high? |
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| 3 Is there not calamity, for the perverse? and misfortune, for the workers of iniquity? |
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| 4 Would, he, not see my ways? and of all my steps, take account? |
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| 5 Verily I walked not in falsity, nor did my foot haste unto deceit:– |
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| 6 Let him weigh me in balances of righteousness,–and let GOD take note of mine integrity! |
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| 7 If my goings have swerved from the way,–and, after mine eyes, hath gone my heart, and, to my hands, hath adhered any stain, |
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| 8 Let me sow but, another, eat. And let, what I have springing up, be uprooted! |
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| 9 If my heart hath been enticed unto a woman, or, by the door of my neighbour, I have lien in wait, |
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| 10 Let my wife, grind to another, and, over her, let others bend!
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| 11 Surely that had been a shameful thing! and that an iniquity for the judges! |
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| 12 Surely, a fire, had that been, which, unto destruction, would have consumed, and, of all mine increase, had it torn up the root. |
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| 13 If I refused the right of my servant, or my handmaid, when they contended with me, |
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| 14 What then could I have done when GOD rose up? And, when he visited, what could I have answered him? |
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| 15 Did not he who, in the womb, made me, make him? And is not he who formed us in the body one? |
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| 16 If I withheld–from pleasure–the poor, or, the eyes of the widow, I dimmed; |
The widow – Job, a man of great generosity, considered the widow. R5401:6
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| 17 Or, used to eat my morsel alone, so that the fatherless did not eat thereof; |
Fatherless – Job was a man of great generosity who considered the orphan. R5401:6
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| 18 Surely, from my youth, he grew up to me, as to a father, and, from my birth, I acted as guide to her: |
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| 19 If I saw one perishing for lack of clothing, or that the needy had no covering; |
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| 20 If his loins did not bless me, or if, with the fleece of my lambs, he did not warm himself; |
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| 21 If I shook–against the fatherless–my hand, when I saw, in the gate, his need of my help, |
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| 22 Let, my shoulder, from the shoulder-blade, fall, and, my arm, from the upper bone, be broken; |
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| 23 For, a dread unto me, was calamity from GOD, and, from his majesty, I could not escape. |
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| 24 If I made gold my stay, and, to precious metal, said, My confidence! |
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| 25 If I rejoiced because great was my substance, and, an abundance, my hand had discovered; |
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| 26 If I looked at the sun, when it flashed forth light, or at the moon, majestically marching along; |
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| 27 And befooled secretly was my heart, so that my hand kissed my mouth, |
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| 28 That too, had been a judicial iniquity, For I should have been false to GOD, above. |
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| 29 If rejoiced in the misfortune of him that hated me, or exulted when calamity found him;– |
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| 30 Neither did I suffer my palate to sin, by asking, with a curse, for his life: |
Mouth to sin – Job in the midst of all his afflictions, was very careful not to sin with his lips. R1937:3
How necessary this is to the stability of Christian character. R1937:3
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| 31 If the men of my household have not said, Oh for some of his flesh–we cannot get filled, |
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| 32 Outside, the sojourner lodged not for the night, My doors–to the wayfarer, I threw open. |
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| 33 If I covered, like Adam, my transgressions, by hiding in my bosom mine iniquity, |
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| 34 Then let me be made to tremble at a great throng, yea let, the contempt of families, terrify me, so that, keeping silence, I shall not go out of the door! |
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| 35 Oh that I had one to hear me, Lo! my crossmark, May, the Almighty, answer me! And would that, a book, mine opponent had written! |
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| 36 Oh! would I not, upon my shoulder, lift it, or bind it as a crown upon me; |
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| 37 The number of my footsteps, I would declare to him, Like a noble, would I draw near to him. |
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| 38 If, against me, my ground used to cry out, and, together, my ridges did weep; |
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| 39 If, the strength thereof, I used to eat, without payment, and, the soul of the holders thereof, I made groan; |
The owners – Margin: the soul of owners. It is not the body, but the being, called in the scripture, "soul," that dies. R205:4, R277:1
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| 40 Instead of wheat, let there come forth bramble, and, instead of barley, a bad-smelling weed! Ended are the words of Job. |
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