Study

Job Maintains His Integrity

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Job again took up his discourse and said:

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“As God lives, who has taken away my right,

and the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter,

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as long as my breath is in me

and the spirit of God is in my nostrils,

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my lips will not speak falsehood,

and my tongue will not utter deceit.

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Far be it from me to say that you are right;

until I die I will not put away my integrity from me.

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I hold fast my righteousness, and will not let it go;

my heart does not reproach me for any of my days.

 

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“May my enemy be like the wicked,

and may my opponent be like the unrighteous.

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For what is the hope of the godless when God cuts them off,

when God takes away their lives?

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Will God hear their cry

when trouble comes upon them?

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Will they take delight in the Almighty?

Will they call upon God at all times?

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I will teach you concerning the hand of God;

that which is with the Almighty I will not conceal.

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All of you have seen it yourselves;

why then have you become altogether vain?

 

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“This is the portion of the wicked with God,

and the heritage that oppressors receive from the Almighty:

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If their children are multiplied, it is for the sword;

and their offspring have not enough to eat.

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Those who survive them the pestilence buries,

and their widows make no lamentation.

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Though they heap up silver like dust,

and pile up clothing like clay—

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they may pile it up, but the just will wear it,

and the innocent will divide the silver.

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They build their houses like nests,

like booths made by sentinels of the vineyard.

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They go to bed with wealth, but will do so no more;

they open their eyes, and it is gone.

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Terrors overtake them like a flood;

in the night a whirlwind carries them off.

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The east wind lifts them up and they are gone;

it sweeps them out of their place.

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It hurls at them without pity;

they flee from its power in headlong flight.

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It claps its hands at them,

and hisses at them from its place.