## I Hold Fast My Righteousness 

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Then Job continued to lift up his discourse and said, 

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"As God lives, who has removed my justice, And the Almighty, who has embittered my soul, 

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For as long as breath is in me, And the spirit from God is in my nostrils, 

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My lips certainly will not speak unrighteousness, Nor will my tongue utter deceit. 

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Far be it from me that I should declare you right; Till I breathe my last I will not remove my integrity from me. 

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I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go. My heart does not reproach any of my days. 

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"May my enemy be as the wicked And the one who rises against me as the unjust. 

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For what is the hope of the godless when he is cut off, When God requires his soul? 

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Will God hear his cry When distress comes upon him? 

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Will he take delight in the Almighty? Will he call on God at all times? 

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I will instruct you in the power of God; What is with the Almighty I will not conceal. 

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Behold, all of you have seen _it_; Why then do you speak with utter vanity? 

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"This is the portion of a wicked man from God, And the inheritance _which_ the ruthless receive from the Almighty. 

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Though his sons are many, they are destined for the sword; And his offspring will not be satisfied with bread. 

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His survivors will be buried because of the plague, And their widows will not be able to weep. 

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Though he piles up silver like dust And prepares garments as _plentiful as_ the clay, 

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He may prepare _it_, but the righteous will wear _it_, And the innocent will divide the silver. 

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He has built his house like the moth, Or as a hut _which_ the watchman has made. 

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He lies down rich, but never again; He opens his eyes, and it is no longer. 

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Terrors overtake him like _many_ waters; A tempest steals him away in the night. 

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The east wind carries him away, and he goes, And it whirls him away from his place. 

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For it will hurl at him without sparing; He will surely try to flee from its power. 

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_Men_ will clap their hands at him And will hiss him from his place.