Job 31
1 I vowed to myself never to look with desire at young women.
I made a covenant with my eyes, that I would not so much as think upon a virgin.
2 What should people expect to receive from God? What reward should the Almighty on high give them?
For what part should God from above have in me, and what inheritance the Almighty from on high?
3 Isn't it disaster for the wicked and destruction for those who do wrong?
Is not destruction to the wicked, and aversion to them that work iniquity?
4 Doesn't God see everything I do—even count every step I take?
Doth not he consider my ways, and number all my steps?
5 Have I lived a deceitful life? Have I been eager to tell lies?
If I have walked in vanity, and my foot hath made haste to deceit:
6 No! Let God weigh me on the scales of his justice and let him discover my integrity.
Let him weigh me in a just balance, and let God know my simplicity.
7 If I have wandered from God's way, if I have let what I see become my desires, if there's any stain of sin on my hands,
If my step hath turned out of the way, and if my heart hath followed my eyes, and if a spot hath cleaved to my hands:
8 then let someone else eat what I have sown, and all that I have grown be uprooted.
Then let me sow and let another eat: and let my offspring be rooted out.
9 If a woman has seduced me, or if I have looked for an opportunity to sleep with my neighbor's wife,
If my heart hath been deceived upon a woman, and if I have laid wait at my friend’s door:
10 then let my wife serve another, let other men sleep with her.
Let my wife be the harlot of another, and let other men lie with her.
11 For that would be wicked, a sin deserving punishment,
For this is a heinous crime, and a most grievous iniquity.
12 for this sin is like a fire that leads to destruction, destroying everything I have.
It is a fire that devoureth even to destruction, and rooteth up all things that spring.
13 If I had refused to listen to my menservants or maidservants when they brought their complaints to me,
If I have despised to abide judgment with my manservant, or my maidservant, when they had any controversy against me:
14 what would I do when God came to judge me? How would I reply if he investigated me?
For what shall I do when God shall rise to judge? and when he shall examine, what shall I answer him?
15 Didn't the same God make all of us?
Did not he that made me in the womb make him also: and did not one and the same form me in the womb?
16 Have I refused to give the poor what they needed, or caused widows to despair?
If I have denied to the poor what they desired, and have made the eyes of the widow wait:
17 Have I even eaten just a piece of bread by myself? Haven't I always shared my food with orphans?
If I have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof:
18 From when I was young I was a father to orphans and took care of widows.
(For from my infancy mercy grew up with me: and it came out with me from my mother’s womb: )
19 If ever I saw someone needing clothes, the poor without anything to wear,
If I have despised him that was perishing for want of clothing, and the poor man that had no covering:
20 they always thanked me for the wool clothing that kept them warm.
If his sides have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep:
21 If I raised my hand to hit an orphan, confident that if it came to court the judges would be on my side,
If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, even when I saw myself superior in the gate:
22 then let my shoulder be pulled from its joint, my arm wrenched out of its socket.
Let my shoulder fall from its joint, and let my arm with its bones be broken.
23 Since I'm terrified of what punishment God may have in store for me, and because of his majesty, I could never do this.
For I have always feared God as waves swelling over me, and his weight I was not able to bear.
24 Have I put my trust in gold, calling fine gold, ‘My security’?
If I have thought gold my strength, and have said to fine gold: My confidence:
25 Have I delighted in being rich, happy at all my wealth I had gained?
If I have rejoiced over my great riches, and because my hand had gotten much.
26 Have I looked at the sun shining so brilliantly or the moon moving in majesty across the sky
If I beheld the sun when it shined, and the moon going in brightness:
27 and been tempted to secretly worship them by kissing my hand to them in devotion?
And my heart in secret hath rejoiced, and I have kissed my hand with my mouth:
28 This too would be a sin deserving punishment for it would mean I had denied God above.
Which is a very great iniquity, and a denial against the most high God.
29 Have I ever been happy when disaster destroyed those who hated me, or celebrated when evil took them down?
If I have been glad at the downfall of him that hated me, and have rejoiced that evil had found him.
30 I have never allowed my mouth to sin by putting a curse on someone's life.
For I have not given my mouth to sin, by wishing a curse to his soul.
31 Haven't my family asked, ‘Is there anyone who has not eaten as much as they wanted of his food?’
If the men of my tabernacle have not said: Who will give us of his flesh that we may be filled?
32 I have never let strangers sleep in the street; I have opened my doors to travelers.
The stranger did not stay without, my door was open to the traveller.
33 Have I concealed my sins from others, hiding my wrongdoing deep inside me?
If as a man I have hid my sin, and have concealed my iniquity in my bosom.
34 Was I afraid of what everybody else would think, scared of the contempt families would show me, so that I kept quiet and didn't go outside?
If I have been afraid at a very great multitude, and the contempt of kinsmen hath terrified me: and I have not rather held my peace, and not gone out of the door.
35 Why won't anyone listen to what I'm saying! I'm signing my name to endorse everything I've said. Let the Almighty answer me. Let my accuser write down what he is charging me with.
Who would grant me a hearer, that the Almighty may hear my desire; and that he himself that judgeth would write a book,
36 I would hold them up high; I would wear them on my head like a crown.
That I may carry it on my shoulder, and put it about me as a crown?
37 I would explain to him everything I'd done; I would hold my head high before him.
At every step of mine I would pronounce it, and offer it as to a prince.
38 If my land has cried out against me; if her furrows have wept over me;
If my land cry against me, and with it the furrows thereof mourn:
39 if I have taken its crops without payment or if I have caused harm to the farmers;
If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, and have afflicted the soul of the tillers thereof:
40 then let thorns grow instead of wheat, and weeds instead of barley.” The words of Job are ended.
Let thistles grow up to me instead of wheat, and thorns instead of barley.
