Job 31

1 “I made a covenant with my eyes; how then should I look lustfully at a young woman?

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

2 For what is the portion from God above, and 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 Is it not calamity to the unrighteous, and disaster to the workers of iniquity?

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

4 Doesn’t he see my ways, and count all my steps?

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

5 “If I have walked with falsehood, and my foot has hurried to deceit

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

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

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

7 if my step has turned out of the way, if my heart walked after my eyes, if any defilement 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 let me sow, and let another eat. Yes, let the produce of my field be rooted out.

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

9 “If my heart has been enticed to a woman, and I have laid wait at my neighbour’s door,

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

10 then let my wife grind for another, and let others 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. Yes, 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 is a fire that consumes to destruction, and would root out all my increase.

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

13 “If I have despised the cause of my male servant or of my female servant, when they contended with me,

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

14 what then will I do when God rises up? When he visits, what will 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 Didn’t he who made me in the womb make him? Didn’t one fashion us in the womb?

Were not they too formed as I also was formed in the womb? yes, we were formed in the same womb.

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

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

17 or have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless has not eaten of it

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

18 (no, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, I have guided her 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 I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or that the needy had no covering;

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

20 if his heart hasn’t blessed me, if he hasn’t been warmed with my sheep’s fleece;

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 my help in the gate;

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

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

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

23 For calamity from God is a terror to me. Because of his majesty, I can do nothing.

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

24 “If I have made gold my hope, and have said to the fine gold, ‘You are my confidence;’

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

25 If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great, 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 I have seen the sun when it shined, or the moon moving in splendour,

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

27 and my heart has been 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 also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges, for I would have denied the God who 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 I have rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him

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

30 (I have certainly not allowed my mouth to sin by asking his life with a curse);

let then mine ear hear my curse, and let me be a byword amongst my people in my affliction.

31 if the men of my tent have not said, ‘Who can find one who has not been filled with his meat?’

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

32 (the foreigner has not camped in the street, but I have opened my doors to the traveller);

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

33 if like Adam I have covered my transgressions, by hiding my iniquity in my heart,

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

34 because I feared the great multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silence, and didn’t 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 that I had one to hear me! Behold, here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me! Let the accuser write my 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 I would bind it to me as a crown.

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

37 I would declare to him the number of my steps. I would go near to 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 eaten its fruits without money, or have caused its owners to lose their life,

and if I ate its strength alone without price, and if I too grieved the heart of the owner of the soil, by taking [anything] from [him]:

40 let briers grow instead of wheat, and stinkweed instead of barley.” The words of Job are ended.

then let the nettle come up to me instead of wheat, and a bramble instead of barley. And Job ceased speaking.