Job 34:31

²⁷He sings before men, and says, ‘I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it didn’t profit me.

⁹I will bear the indignation of the LORD, because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my case and executes judgment for me. He will bring me out to the light. I will see his righteousness.

³³However you are just in all that has come on us; for you have dealt truly, but we have done wickedly. ³⁴Also our kings, our princes, our priests, and our fathers have not kept your law, nor listened to your commandments and your testimonies with which you testified against them. ³⁵For they have not served you in their kingdom, and in your great goodness that you gave them, and in the large and rich land which you gave before them. They didn’t turn from their wicked works.

³⁶“Behold, we are servants today, and as for the land that you gave to our fathers to eat its fruit and its good, behold, we are servants in it. ³⁷It yields much increase to the kings whom you have set over us because of our sins. Also they have power over our bodies and over our livestock, at their pleasure, and we are in great distress. ³⁸Yet for all this, we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, our Levites, and our priests, seal it.”

⁷“Lord, righteousness belongs to you, but to us confusion of face, as it is today; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, who are near and who are far off, through all the countries where you have driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against you. ⁸Lord, to us belongs confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you. ⁹To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him. ¹⁰We haven’t obeyed the LORD our God’s voice, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. ¹¹Yes, all Israel have transgressed your law, turning aside, that they should not obey your voice. “Therefore the curse and the oath written in the law of Moses the servant of God has been poured out on us, for we have sinned against him.

¹²He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us and against our judges who judged us, by bringing on us a great evil; for under the whole sky, such has not been done as has been done to Jerusalem. ¹³As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil has come on us. Yet we have not entreated the favor of the LORD our God, that we should turn from our iniquities and have discernment in your truth. ¹⁴Therefore the LORD has watched over the evil, and brought it on us; for the LORD our God is righteous in all his works which he does, and we have not obeyed his voice.

¹⁸“I have surely heard Ephraim grieving thus, ‘You have chastised me, and I was chastised, as an untrained calf. Turn me, and I will be turned, for you are the LORD my God. ¹⁹Surely after that I was turned. I repented. After that I was instructed. I struck my thigh. I was ashamed, yes, even confounded, because I bore the reproach of my youth.’

⁶Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”

⁴¹I also walked contrary to them, and brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled, and they then accept the punishment of their iniquity,

¹³“After all that has come on us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, since you, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and have given us such a remnant, ¹⁴shall we again break your commandments, and join ourselves with the peoples that do these abominations? Wouldn’t you be angry with us until you had consumed us, so that there would be no remnant, nor any to escape?

³Then Job answered the LORD, ⁴“Behold, I am of small account. What will I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth. ⁵I have spoken once, and I will not answer; Yes, twice, but I will proceed no further.”