Chapter 31
| Collection: | The Book of Job and 42 Paintings |
| Author: | Fr. Antonio Oteiza |
| Type: | Painting |
| Location: | Cataloguing Room |
| Characteristics: | Acrylic paint on cardboard |
| Artwork: |
Click to enlarge |
| Description: |
I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a young woman. Let us see: what fate does God reserve from heaven, what inheritance does the Almighty allot from on high? Does he not reserve disaster for the criminal and failure for evildoers? Does he not see my ways and count all my steps? Have I walked with deceit? Have my feet hurried after falsehood? Let God weigh me on honest scales, and he will see my integrity. If my steps have strayed from the path, following the whims of my eyes, or if anything has clung to my hands, then let another eat what I sow, and let my shoots be uprooted! If I allowed myself to be seduced by a woman and lay in wait at my neighbour’s door, then let my wife grind for a stranger, and let others lie with her! For that would be an outrage, a crime that belongs before the judges; a fire that devours to the depths and uproots all my harvest. If I denied justice to my male or female servant when they had a dispute with me, what shall I do when God rises? What shall I answer when he questions me? Did not he who made me in the womb make them also? Did not the same one form us in the womb? From my childhood he raised me like a father, and from my mother’s womb he guided me. If I denied the poor what they desired or left the widow’s eyes to waste away in tears; if I ate my bread alone without sharing it with the orphan; if I saw the wanderer without clothing or the poor with nothing to cover themselves, and their bodies did not thank me, warmed by the fleece of my sheep; if I raised my hand against the innocent because I knew I had the support of the court, then let my shoulder fall from its blade and my arm be torn from its socket! For the terror of God would frighten me, and his majesty would overwhelm me. If my land has cried out against me or its furrows have wept together; if I ate its produce without paying for it, crushing the labourers, then let my land yield thorns instead of wheat and nettles instead of barley! I swear: I did not put my trust in gold or call precious metal my security. I did not rejoice in my great riches or in the fortune amassed by my hands. When I looked at the radiant sun or the moon moving in splendour, I was not secretly seduced, nor did I send them a kiss with my hand. That too would be a crime belonging before the judges, for I would have denied the God of heaven. I did not rejoice at my enemy’s misfortune, nor did his suffering fill me with delight. I did not allow my mouth to sin by wishing him dead. I swear! When the men of my camp said, “If only we could feast on his flesh!”, the stranger never had to spend the night in the street, for I opened my doors to the traveller. I did not conceal my offence like Adam or hide my guilt within my breast. For fear of the clamour of the people, or dread of the contempt of my clan, I did not remain shut away and silent. If only there were someone to hear me! Here end the speeches of Job. |
