Job 31

1 I MADE a covenant with mine eyes; how then should I look upon a maid?

2 For what [is] the portion of God from above, and the heritage of the Almighty from on high?

3 Is it not calamity to the unrighteous, and disaster to the workers of iniquity?

4 Doth not he see my ways, and number all my steps?

5 If I have walked with vanity, and my foot hath hasted to deceit;

6 (Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine integrity; )

7 If my step hath turned out of the way, and mine heart walked after mine eyes, and if any spot hath cleaved to mine hands:

8 Then let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let the produce of my field be rooted out.

9 If mine heart have been enticed unto a woman, and I have laid wait at my neighbour’s door:

10 Then let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her.

11 For that were an heinous crime; yea, it were an iniquity to be punished by the judges:

12 For it is a fire that consumeth unto Destruction, and would root out all mine increase.

13 If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, when they contended with me:

14 What then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him?

15 Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb?

16 If I have withheld the poor from [their] desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail;

17 Or have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof;

18 (Nay, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, and I have been her guide from my mother’s womb; )

19 If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or that the needy had no covering;

20 If his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep;

21 If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, because I saw my help in the gate:

22 Then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone.

23 For calamity from God was a terror to me, and by reason of his excellency I could do nothing.

24 If I have made gold my hope, and have said to the fine gold, [Thou art] my confidence;

25 If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because mine hand had gotten much;

26 If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness;

27 And my heart hath been secretly enticed, and my mouth hath kissed my hand:

28 This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judges: for I should have lied to God that is above.

29 If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him;

30 (Yea, I suffered not my mouth to sin by asking his life with a curse; )

31 If the men of my tent said not, Who can find one that hath not been satisfied with his flesh?

32 The stranger did not lodge in the street; but I opened my doors to the traveller;

33 If like Adam I covered my transgressions, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom;

34 Because I feared the great multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silence, and went not out of the door—

35 Oh that I had one to hear me! (lo, here is my signature, let the Almighty answer me; ) and [that I had] the indictment which mine adversary hath written!

36 Surely I would carry it upon my shoulder; I would bind it unto me as a crown.

37 I would declare unto him the number of my steps; as a prince would I go near unto him.

38 If my land cry out against me, and the furrows thereof weep together;

39 If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life:

40 Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.