[1] “I made an agreement with my eyes not to look at a girl in a way that would make me want her.
[2] What does God All-Powerful do to people? How does God pay people back from his home high in heaven?
[3] God sends trouble and ruin to wicked people, and disaster to people that do wrong.
[4] God knows everything I do, and he sees every step I take.
[5] “I have not lied and tried to cheat people!
[6] If God would use accurate scales, then he would know that I am innocent.
[7] ˻Then God would know˼ if I walked off the the right path, if my eyes led my heart to do evil, or if my hands are dirty with sin,
[8] Then ˻it would be right for other people˼ to eat the crops I planted and to pull up the plants I grew.
[9] “If I have desired another woman or waited at my neighbor’s door to sin with his wife,
[10] then let my wife cook another man’s food, and let other men sleep with her.
[11] Why? Because sexual sin is shameful. It is a sin that must be punished.
[12] Sexual sin is like a fire that burns until it destroys everything! It could ruin everything I have ever done.
[13] “If I refuse to be fair to my slaves when they have a complaint against me,
[14] then what will I do when I must face God? What will I say when God asks me to explain what I did?
[15] God made me in my mother’s body. And God also made my slaves. God shaped us all inside our mothers.
[16] “I have never refused to help poor people. I always gave widows what they needed.
[17] I have never been selfish with my food. I always gave food to orphans.
[18] All my life, I have been like a father to children that had no father. All my life, I have taken care of widows.
[19] When I found people suffering because they didn’t have clothes, or a poor man with no coat,
[20] I always gave them clothes. I used the wool from my own sheep to make them warm. And they blessed me with all their heart.
[21] I never shook my fist at an orphan when I saw him at the gate asking for help.
[22] If I ever did that, then may my arm be pulled from its socket and fall from my shoulder!
[23] But I didn’t do any of those bad things. I am afraid of God’s punishment. His majesty ˻(importance)˼ scares me.
[24] “I have never trusted in my riches. ˻I always trusted God to help me.˼ I never said to pure gold, 'You are my hope.’
[25] I have been wealthy. But that didn’t make me proud! I earned a lot of money. But that is not what made me happy!
[26] I have never worshiped the bright sun, or the beautiful moon.
[27] I was never foolish enough to worship the sun and the moon.
[28] That is also a sin that must be punished. If I had worshiped those things, then I would have been unfaithful to God All-Powerful.
[29] “I have never been happy when my enemies were destroyed. I have never laughed at my enemies when bad things happened to them.
[30] I have never let my mouth sin by cursing my enemies, and wishing for them to die.
[31] All the people in my house know that I have always given food to strangers.
[32] I always invited strangers into my home so they would not have to sleep in the streets at night.
[33] Other people try to hide their sins. But I have not hidden my guilt.
[34] I have never been afraid of what people might say. That fear never made me keep quiet. It never made me refuse to go outside. I am not afraid of people’s hate for me.
[35] “Oh, I wish someone would listen to me! Let me explain my side. I wish God All-Powerful would answer me. I wish he would write down what he thinks I did wrong.
[36] Then I would wear that sign around my neck. I would put it on my head like a crown.
[37] If God did that, then I could explain everything that I have done. I could come to God like a leader with my head held high.
[38] “I didn’t steal my land from anyone. No one can accuse me of stealing it.
[39] I always paid the farmers for the food that I got from the land. And I never tried to take land away from the person who owned it.
[40] If I ever did any of those bad things, then let thorns and weeds grow in my fields instead of wheat and barley!” Job’s words are finished.