Job 31
1
I made a covenant with mine eyes; How then should I look upon a virgin?
2
For what is the portion from God above, And the heritage from the Almighty on high?
3
Is it not calamity to the unrighteous, And disaster to the workers of iniquity?
4
Does not he see my ways, And number all my steps?
5
If I have walked with falsehood, And my foot has hasted to deceit
6
(Let me be weighed in an even balance, That God may know mine integrity);
7
If my step has turned out of the way, And my heart walked after mine eyes, And if
any spot has cleaved to my hands:
8
Then let me sow, and let another eat; Yea, let the produce of my field be rooted out.
9
If my heart has been enticed to a woman, And I have laid wait at my neighbor`s door;
10
Then let my wife grind to another, And let others bow down upon her.
11
For that were a heinous crime; Yea, it were an iniquity to be punished by the judges:
12
For it is a fire that consumes to Destruction, And would root out all mine increase.
13
If I have despised the cause of my man-servant or of my maid-servant, When they
contended with me;
14
What then shall I do when God rises up? And when he visits, what shall I answer him?
15
Did not he who 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 has not eaten thereof
18
(Nay, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, And her have I guided 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 has not been 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 is a terror to me, And by reason of his majesty I can do nothing.
24
If I have made gold my hope, And have said to the fine gold, [You are] my confidence;
25
If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great, And because my hand had gotten much;
26
If I have beheld the sun when it shined, Or the moon walking in brightness,
27
And my heart has been secretly enticed, And my mouth has kissed my hand:
28
This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judges; For I should have denied
the God that is above.
29
If I have rejoiced at the destruction of him whom hated me, Or lifted up myself
when evil found him;
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(Yea, I have not suffered by mouth to sin By asking his life with a curse);
31
If the men of my tent have not said, Who can find one that has not been filled with
his meat?
32
(The sojourner has not lodged in the street; But I have opened my doors to the traveller);
33
If like Adam I have 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! (Behold, here is my signature, let the Almighty answer
me); And [that I had] the indictment which mine adversary has written!
36
Surely I would carry it upon my shoulder; I would bind it to me as a crown:
37
I would declare to him the number of my steps; As a prince would I go near to him.
38
If my land cries out against me, And its furrows weep together;
39
If I have eaten its fruits without money, Or have caused its owners
to lose their life:
40
Let thistles grow instead of wheat, And cockle instead of barley. The words
of Job are ended.