Though He slay me, yet will I wait for Him; but I will prove my own ways before Him.

But He knows the way that I take; when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

I have not departed from the Commandment of His lips; I have treasured the Words of His mouth more than my prescribed food.

Far be it from me that I should say you are right. Until I die I will not put away my integrity from me.

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

I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I look intently upon a virgin?

Is it not destruction for the wicked, and calamity for the workers of iniquity?

If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot has hastened to deceit,

If my step has turned aside from the way, or my heart walked after my eyes, or if any blemish has clung to my hands,

If my heart has been enticed by a woman, or if I have lurked at my neighbor's door,

For that would be wickedness; yea, it would be perversity deserving of judgment.

If I despised the cause of my male or female servant when they have a dispute with me,

Did not He who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same One fashion us in the womb?

or eaten my morsel by myself, and the fatherless has not eaten of it

if I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing, or any poor man without covering;

if I have waved my hand against the fatherless, when I was looking after my help in the gate;

For calamity from the Mighty God is a terror to me, and because of His majesty I could not do such things.

if I have rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because my hand had acquired much;

so that my heart has been secretly enticed, and my mouth has kissed my hand;

If I have rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me, or been excited when evil found him

if the men of my tent have not said, who is there that is not satisfied with his flesh?

if I have covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding my iniquity in my bosom,

Oh, that I had one to hear me! Behold, my desire is that the Almighty would answer me, that the man complaining had written an indictment!

I would declare to Him the number of my steps; like a prince I would approach Him.

if I have eaten its produce without money, or caused its owners to expire their souls;

O Jehovah my God, if I have done this: if there is iniquity in my hands;

let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it; yea, let him trample down my life upon the earth and lay my honor in the dust. Selah.

All this has come upon us; yet we have not forgotten You, nor dealt falsely with Your Covenant.

though You have crushed us in the place of dragons and covered us with the shadow of death.

shall not God search this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart.

and said, Remember now, O Jehovah, I beseech You, how I have walked before You in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done what is good in Your eyes. And Hezekiah wept with a great weeping.

This being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience that is blameless toward God and men.

I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing witness with me in the Holy Spirit,

For I know nothing against myself, yet I am not justified by this; but He who judges me is the Lord.

But let each one prove his own work, and then he alone will have rejoicing in himself, and not in another.

Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith,

having faith and a good conscience, which some having thrust away, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck,

of whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I delivered to Satan that they may be taught not to blaspheme.

Pray for us; for we are confident that we have a good conscience, in all things desiring to live honorably.

having a good conscience, that when they speak against you as evildoers, those who falsely accuse your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed.

There is also an antitype which now saves us; immersion (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him.

Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God.

But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple.

For your obedience has reached to everyone. Therefore I rejoice over you. But I want you to be wise unto what is good, and simple toward evil.

For we are not, as so many, peddling the Word of God; but as of sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ, in the sight of God.

I speak not by commandment, but I am testing the sincerity of your love through the diligence of others.

Now therefore, fear Jehovah, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers have served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve Jehovah!

Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Stand firm therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness,

that you may examine the things that differ, that you may be sincere and without blame unto the day of Christ,

in all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works; in doctrine showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility,

Therefore, when I was planning this, did I do it lightly? Or the things I plan, do I plan according to the flesh, that with me there should be Yes, Yes, and No, No?

But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the Word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience before God.

But I beseech you that when I am present I may not be bold with that confidence by which I figure on being bold against some, who think of us as if we walked according to the flesh.

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God for pulling down strongholds,

And I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I am loved.

Did I take advantage of you by any of those whom I sent to you?

Again, do you think that we defend ourselves to you? We speak before God in Christ. But we do all things, beloved, for your edification.

And my speech and my preaching were not with enticing words of human wisdom, but in proof of the Spirit and of power,

that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

These things we also speak, not in words which human wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than every one of them, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show his works out of good conduct, in the meekness of wisdom.

This wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic.

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, fair, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.

But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.