REWARDING RIGHTEOUSNESS?

“I made a covenant with my eyes
    not to look lustfully at a young woman.
² For what is our lot from God above,
    our heritage from the Almighty on high?
³ Is it not ruin for the wicked,
    disaster for those who do wrong?
⁴ Does he not see my ways
    and count my every step?

⁵ “If I have walked with falsehood
    or my foot has hurried after deceit—
⁶ let God weigh me in honest scales
    and he will know that I am blameless—
⁷ if my steps have turned from the path,
    if my heart has been led by my eyes,
    or if my hands have been defiled,
⁸ then may others eat what I have sown,
    and may my crops be uprooted.

⁹ “If my heart has been enticed by a woman,
    or if I have lurked at my neighbor’s door,
¹⁰ then may my wife grind another man’s grain,
    and may other men sleep with her.
¹¹ For that would have been wicked,
    a sin to be judged.
¹² It is a fire that burns to Destruction^[a];
    it would have uprooted my harvest.

¹³ “If I have denied justice to any of my servants,
    whether male or female,
    when they had a grievance against me,
¹⁴ what will I do when God confronts me?
    What will I answer when called to account?
¹⁵ Did not he who made me in the womb make them?
    Did not the same one form us both within our mothers?

¹⁶ “If I have denied the desires of the poor
    or let the eyes of the widow grow weary,
¹⁷ if I have kept my bread to myself,
    not sharing it with the fatherless—
¹⁸ but from my youth I reared them as a father would,
    and from my birth I guided the widow—
¹⁹ if I have seen anyone perishing for lack of clothing,
    or the needy without garments,
²⁰ and their hearts did not bless me
    for warming them with the fleece from my sheep,
²¹ if I have raised my hand against the fatherless,
    knowing that I had influence in court,
²² then let my arm fall from the shoulder,
    let it be broken off at the joint.
²³ For I dreaded destruction from God,
    and for fear of his splendor I could not do such things.

²⁴ “If I have put my trust in gold
    or said to pure gold, ‘You are my security,’
²⁵ if I have rejoiced over my great wealth,
    the fortune my hands had gained,
²⁶ if I have regarded the sun in its radiance
    or the moon moving in splendor,
²⁷ so that my heart was secretly enticed
    and my hand offered them a kiss of homage,
²⁸ then these also would be sins to be judged,
    for I would have been unfaithful to God on high.

²⁹ “If I have rejoiced at my enemy’s misfortune
    or gloated over the trouble that came to him—
³⁰ I have not allowed my mouth to sin
    by invoking a curse against their life—
³¹ if those of my household have never said,
    ‘Who has not been filled with Job’s meat?’—
³² but no stranger had to spend the night in the street,
    for my door was always open to the traveler—
³³ if I have concealed my sin as people do,^[b]
    by hiding my guilt in my heart
³⁴ because I so feared the crowd
    and so dreaded the contempt of the clans
    that I kept silent and would not go outside—

³⁵ (“Oh, that I had someone to hear me!
    I sign now my defense—let the Almighty answer me;
    let my accuser put his indictment in writing.
³⁶ Surely I would wear it on my shoulder,
    I would put it on like a crown.
³⁷ I would give him an account of my every step;
    I would present it to him as to a ruler.)—

³⁸ “if my land cries out against me
    and all its furrows are wet with tears,
³⁹ if I have devoured its yield without payment
    or broken the spirit of its tenants,
⁴⁰ then let briers come up instead of wheat
    and stinkweed instead of barley.”