Job 31
1 “I have made a covenant with my eyes. How then could I gaze with desire at a virgin?
I made a covenant with mine eyes, and I will not think upon a virgin.
2 For what is the allotment of God from above, or the heritage from the Almighty on high?
Now what portion has God given from above? and is there an inheritance [given] of the Mighty One from the highest?
3 Does not disaster come to the unjust and calamity to the workers of iniquity?
Alas! destruction to the unrighteous, and rejection to them that do iniquity.
4 Does He not see my ways and count my every step?
Will he not see my way, and number all my steps?
5 If I have walked in falsehood or my foot has rushed to deceit,
But if I had gone with scorners, and if too my foot has hasted to deceit:
6 let God weigh me with honest scales, that He may know my integrity.
(for I am weighed in a just balance, and the Lord knows my innocence: )
7 If my steps have turned from the path, if my heart has followed my eyes, or if impurity has stuck to my hands,
if my foot has turned aside out of the way, or if mine heart has followed mine eye, and if too I have touched gifts with my hands;
8 then may another eat what I have sown, and may my crops be uprooted.
then let me sow, and let others eat; and let me be uprooted on the earth.
9 If my heart has been enticed by my neighbor’s wife, or I have lurked at his door,
If my heart has gone forth after another man's wife, and if I laid wait at her doors;
10 then may my own wife grind grain for another, and may other men sleep with her.
then let my wife also please another, and let my children be brought low.
11 For that would be a heinous crime, an iniquity to be judged.
For the rage of anger is not to be controlled, [in the case] of defiling [another] man's wife.
12 For it is a fire that burns down to Abaddon; it would root out my entire harvest.
For it is a fire burning on every side, and whomsoever it attacks, it utterly destroys.
13 If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or maidservant when they made a complaint against me,
And if too I despised the judgment of my servant or [my] handmaid, when they pleaded with me;
14 what will I do when God rises to judge? How will I answer when called to account?
what then shall I do if the Lord should try me? and if also he should at all visit me, can I make an answer?
15 Did not He who made me in the womb also make them? Did not the same One form us in the womb?
Were not they too formed as I also was formed in the womb? yea, we were formed in the same womb.
16 If I have denied the desires of the poor or allowed the widow’s eyes to fail,
But the helpless missed not whatever need they had, and I did not cause the eye of the widow to fail.
17 if I have eaten my morsel alone, not sharing it with the fatherless—
And if too I ate my morsel alone, and did not impart [of it] to the orphan;
18 though from my youth I reared him as would a father, and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow—
(for I nourished [them] as a father from my youth and guided [them] from my mother's womb.)
19 if I have seen one perish for lack of clothing, or a needy man without a cloak,
And if too I overlooked the naked as he was perishing, and did not clothe him;
20 if his heart has not blessed me for warming him with the fleece of my sheep,
and if the poor did not bless me, and their shoulders were [not] warmed with the fleece of my lambs;
21 if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless because I saw that I had support in the gate,
if I lifted my hand against an orphan, trusting that my strength was far superior [to his]:
22 then may my arm fall from my shoulder and be torn from its socket.
let them my shoulder start from the blade-bone, and my arm be crushed off from the elbow.
23 For calamity from God terrifies me, and His splendor I cannot overpower.
For the fear of the Lord constrained me, and I cannot bear up by reason of his burden.
24 If I have put my trust in gold or called pure gold my security,
If I made gold my treasure, and if too I trusted the precious stone;
25 if I have rejoiced in my great wealth because my hand had gained so much,
and if too I rejoiced when my wealth was abundant, and if too I laid my hand on innumerable [treasures]:
26 if I have beheld the sun in its radiance or the moon moving in splendor,
(do we not see the shining sun eclipsed, and the moon waning? for they have not [power to continue]: )
27 so that my heart was secretly enticed and my hand threw a kiss from my mouth,
and if my heart was secretly deceived, and if I have laid my hand upon my mouth and kissed it:
28 this would also be an iniquity to be judged, for I would have denied God on high.
let this also then be reckoned to me as the greatest iniquity: for I [should] have lied against the Lord Most High.
29 If I have rejoiced in my enemy’s ruin, or exulted when evil befell him—
And if too I was glad at the fall of mine enemies, and mine heart said, Aha!
30 I have not allowed my mouth to sin by asking for his life with a curse—
let then mine ear hear my curse, and let me be a byword among my people in my affliction.
31 if the men of my house have not said, ‘Who is there who has not had his fill?’—
And if too my handmaids have often said, Oh that we might be satisfied with his flesh; (whereas I was very kind:
32 but no stranger had to lodge on the street, for my door has been open to the traveler—
for the stranger did not lodge without, and my door was opened to every one that came: )
33 if I have covered my transgressions like Adam by hiding my guilt in my heart,
or if too having sinned unintentionally, I hid my sin;
34 because I greatly feared the crowds and the contempt of the clans terrified me, so that I kept silent and would not go outside—
(for I did not stand in awe of a great multitude, so as not to declare boldly before them: ) and if too I permitted a poor man to go out of my door with an empty bosom:
35 (Oh, that I had one to hear me! Here is my signature. Let the Almighty answer me; let my accuser compose an indictment.
(Oh that I had a hearer, ) and if I had not feared the hand of the Lord; and [as to] the written charge which I had against any one,
36 Surely I would carry it on my shoulder and wear it like a crown.
I would place [it] as a chaplet on my shoulders, and read it.
37 I would give account of all my steps; I would approach Him like a prince.)—
And if I did not read it and return it, having taken nothing from the debtor:
38 if my land cries out against me and its furrows weep together,
If at any time the land groaned against me, and if its furrows mourned together;
39 if I have devoured its produce without payment or broken the spirit of its tenants,
and if I ate its strength alone without price, and if I too grieved the heart of the owner of the soil, by taking [aught] from [him]:
40 then let briers grow instead of wheat and stinkweed instead of barley.” Thus conclude the words of Job.
then let the nettle come up to me instead of wheat, and a bramble instead of barley. And Job ceased speaking.
