Job 31
1 I vowed to myself never to look with desire at young women.
“I made a covenant for my eyes, And how do I attend to a virgin?
2 What should people expect to receive from God? What reward should the Almighty on high give them?
And what [is] the portion of God from above? And the inheritance of the Mighty from the heights?
3 Isn't it disaster for the wicked and destruction for those who do wrong?
Is not calamity to the perverse? And strangeness to workers of iniquity?
4 Doesn't God see everything I do—even count every step I take?
Does He not see 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 with vanity, And my foot hurries to deceit,
6 No! Let God weigh me on the scales of his justice and let him discover my integrity.
He weighs me in righteous balances, And God knows my integrity.
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 turns aside from the way, And my heart has gone after my eyes, And blemish has cleaved to my hands,
8 then let someone else eat what I have sown, and all that I have grown be uprooted.
Let me sow—and another eat, And let my products 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 has been enticed by a woman, And I laid wait by the opening of my neighbor,
10 then let my wife serve another, let other men sleep with her.
Let my wife grind to another, And let others bend over her.
11 For that would be wicked, a sin deserving punishment,
For it [is] a wicked thing, and a judicial iniquity;
12 for this sin is like a fire that leads to destruction, destroying everything I have.
For it [is] a fire, it consumes to destruction, And takes root among all my increase,
13 If I had refused to listen to my menservants or maidservants when they brought their complaints to me,
If I despise the cause of my manservant, And of my handmaid, In their contending with me,
14 what would I do when God came to judge me? How would I reply if he investigated me?
Then what do I do when God arises? And when He inspects, What do I answer Him?
15 Didn't the same God make all of us?
Did He that made me in the womb not make him? Indeed, One prepares us in the womb.
16 Have I refused to give the poor what they needed, or caused widows to despair?
If I withhold the poor from pleasure, And consume the eyes of the widow,
17 Have I even eaten just a piece of bread by myself? Haven't I always shared my food with orphans?
And I eat my morsel by myself, And the orphan has nothing [to] eat of it,
18 From when I was young I was a father to orphans and took care of widows.
(But from my youth He grew up with me as [with] a father, And from the belly of my mother I am led),
19 If ever I saw someone needing clothes, the poor without anything to wear,
If I see [any] perishing without clothing, And there is no covering for the needy,
20 they always thanked me for the wool clothing that kept them warm.
If his loins have not blessed me, And from the fleece of my sheep He does not warm himself,
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 waved my hand at the fatherless, When I see [him] in the gate of my court,
22 then let my shoulder be pulled from its joint, my arm wrenched out of its socket.
Let my shoulder fall from its blade, And the bone from my arm 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 calamity [from] God [is] a dread to me, And because of His excellence I am not able.
24 Have I put my trust in gold, calling fine gold, ‘My security’?
If I have made gold my confidence, And to the pure gold have said, My trust;
25 Have I delighted in being rich, happy at all my wealth I had gained?
If I rejoice because my wealth [is] great, And because my hand has found abundance,
26 Have I looked at the sun shining so brilliantly or the moon moving in majesty across the sky
If I see the light when it shines, And the precious moon walking,
27 and been tempted to secretly worship them by kissing my hand to them in devotion?
And my heart is enticed in secret, And my hand kisses my mouth,
28 This too would be a sin deserving punishment for it would mean I had denied God above.
It also [is] a judicial iniquity, For I had lied to God above.
29 Have I ever been happy when disaster destroyed those who hated me, or celebrated when evil took them down?
If I rejoice at the ruin of my hater, And stirred up myself when evil found him,
30 I have never allowed my mouth to sin by putting a curse on someone's life.
Indeed, I have not permitted my mouth to sin, To ask with an oath his life.
31 Haven't my family asked, ‘Is there anyone who has not eaten as much as they wanted of his food?’
If not, say, O men of my tent: O that we had of his flesh, we are not satisfied.
32 I have never let strangers sleep in the street; I have opened my doors to travelers.
A stranger does not lodge in the street, I open my doors to the traveler.
33 Have I concealed my sins from others, hiding my wrongdoing deep inside me?
If I have covered my transgressions as Adam, To hide 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?
Because I fear a great multitude, And the contempt of families frightens me, Then I am silent, I do not go out of the opening.
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 gives to me a hearing? Behold, my mark. The Mighty One answers me, And my adversary has written a bill.
36 I would hold them up high; I would wear them on my head like a crown.
If not—on my shoulder I take it up, I bind it [as] a crown on myself.
37 I would explain to him everything I'd done; I would hold my head high before him.
The number of my steps I tell Him, As a leader I approach Him.
38 If my land has cried out against me; if her furrows have wept over me;
If my land cries out against me, And together its furrows weep,
39 if I have taken its crops without payment or if I have caused harm to the farmers;
If I consumed its strength without money, And the life of its possessors, I have caused to breathe out,
40 then let thorns grow instead of wheat, and weeds instead of barley.” The words of Job are ended.
Instead of wheat let a thorn go forth, And instead of barley a useless weed!” The words of Job are finished.
