Job 31

1 A covenant had I made with my eyes: how then should I fix my look on a virgin?

I made a covenant with mine eyes, and I will not think upon a virgin.

2 And what then would have been my portion of God from above? and what lot of the Almighty from on high?

Now what portion has God given from above? and is there an inheritance [given] of the Mighty One from the highest?

3 Is not calamity [ready] for the unjust? and misfortune for the wrong-doers?

Alas! destruction to the unrighteous, and rejection to them that do iniquity.

4 Behold, he truly seeth my ways, and numbereth all my steps;

Will he not see my way, and number all my steps?

5 [And knoweth] whether I have walked with vain desires, or if my foot hath hastened after deceit.

But if I had gone with scorners, and if too my foot has hasted to deceit:

6 Let him weigh me then in a righteous balance, and let God acknowledge my integrity,

(for I am weighed in a just balance, and the Lord knows my innocence: )

7 If my step have turned aside from the [proper] way, and my heart have walked after my eyes, and if any blemish have cleaved 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 let me sow, and let another eat; and let what I have growing be rooted out.

then let me sow, and let others eat; and let me be uprooted on the earth.

9 If my heart have been beguiled toward a woman, or if I have lain in wait at my neighbor's door:

If my heart has gone forth after another man's wife, and if I laid wait at her doors;

10 Then may my wife labor at the mill for another, and may strangers ill-use her;

then let my wife also please another, and let my children be brought low.

11 For this would be incest; yea, it would be an iniquity [to be punished by] the judges;

For the rage of anger is not to be controlled, [in the case] of defiling [another] man's wife.

12 For it would be a fire that consumeth down to the place of corruption, and would root out all my products.

For it is a fire burning on every side, and whomsoever it attacks, it utterly destroys.

13 If ever I cast aside the justice due to my man-servant and my maid-servant, when they contended with me:

And if too I despised the judgment of my servant or [my] handmaid, when they pleaded with me;

14 What then could I do when God should rise up? and when he should investigate, what could I answer him?

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 that made me make him born or a woman? and did not the same one fashion 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 ever I denied the wish of the indigent, or ever allowed the eyes of the widow to fall [in vain hopes];

But the helpless missed not whatever need they had, and I did not cause the eye of the widow to fail.

17 Or if ever I ate my bread by myself alone, and the fatherless did not eat thereof;

And if too I ate my morsel alone, and did not impart [of it] to the orphan;

18 (For from my youth he was brought up with me, as though we were of one father, and I have guided her [as though she was sprung] from my mother's womb; )

(for I nourished [them] as a father from my youth and guided [them] from my mother's womb.)

19 If ever I saw any one perishing for want of clothing, or the needy without covering:

And if too I overlooked the naked as he was perishing, and did not clothe him;

20 If his loins have not blessed me, and if he have not been warmed 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 swung my hand against the fatherless, because I saw in the gate those that would help me:

if I lifted my hand against an orphan, trusting that my strength was far superior [to his]:

22 Then may my shoulder fall from my shoulder-blade, and my arm be broken from the channel-bone;

let them my shoulder start from the blade-bone, and my arm be crushed off from the elbow.

23 For dreaded by me was the calamitous punishment of God, and against his highness I can accomplish nothing.

For the fear of the Lord constrained me, and I cannot bear up by reason of his burden.

24 If I have made gold my confidence, or have said to the fine gold, Thou art my trust:

If I made gold my treasure, and if too I trusted the precious stone;

25 If ever I rejoiced because my wealth was abundant, and because my hand had gotten much;

and if too I rejoiced when my wealth was abundant, and if too I laid my hand on innumerable [treasures]:

26 If ever I looked at the light [of the sun] when he shone brightly and on the moon walking in splendor:

(do we not see the shining sun eclipsed, and the moon waning? for they have not [power to continue]: )

27 And my heart became misled in secret, and my hand kissed my mouth:

and if my heart was secretly deceived, and if I have laid my hand upon my mouth and kissed it:

28 This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge; for thus would I have denied the God that is above.

let this also then be reckoned to me as the greatest iniquity: for I [should] have lied against the Lord Most High.

29 If ever I rejoiced at the downfall of him that hated me, or was elated when evil befell him; —

And if too I was glad at the fall of mine enemies, and mine heart said, Aha!

30 But I suffered not my mouth to sin by denouncing with a curse his soul: —

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 tent said not, Oh is there one that is not satisfied of his flesh; —

And if too my handmaids have often said, Oh that we might be satisfied with his flesh; (whereas I was very kind:

32 In the street a stranger had not to lodge; my doors I held open to the roadside;

for the stranger did not lodge without, and my door was opened to every one that came: )

33 If I covered up my transgressions like a common man, by hiding in my bosom my iniquity;

or if too having sinned unintentionally, I hid my sin;

34 Because I dreaded the great multitude, or because the contempt of families did terrify me, so that I kept silence, and dared not to go out of the door; —

(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 who will bring me one that would hear me! behold, here is my plea; may the Almighty answer me; and any record which my opponent may have written, —

(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 upon my shoulder would I carry it: I would bind it as a crown unto me.

I would place [it] as a chaplet on my shoulders, and read it.

37 The number of my steps would I tell him: as [to] a prince would I go near unto him.—

And if I did not read it and return it, having taken nothing from the debtor:

38 If my land ever cried out because of me, or if its furrows wept together;

If at any time the land groaned against me, and if its furrows mourned together;

39 If I ever consumed its strength without payment, or caused the soul of its owners to grieve:

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 may instead of wheat, thorns come forth, and instead of barley, cockle. (Here end 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.