Job Chapter 31 Back Next{31:1} "I made a
covenant with my eyes, how then should I look
lustfully at a young woman?
{31:2} For what is the portion from God above, and the heritage from the Almighty on high?
{31:3} Is it not calamity to the unrighteous, and disaster to the workers of iniquity?
{31:4} Doesn't he see my ways, and number all my steps?
{31:5} "If I have walked with falsehood, and my foot has hurried to deceit
{31:6} (let me be weighed in an even
balance, that God may know my integrity);
{31:7} if my step has turned out of the way, if my
heart walked after my eyes, if any defilement has stuck to my hands,
{31:8} then let me sow, and let another eat. Yes, let the produce of my
field be rooted out.
{31:9} "If my heart has been enticed to a woman, and I have laid wait at my neighbor's door,
{31:10} then let my wife grind for another, and let others sleep with her.
{31:11} For that would be a heinous crime. Yes, it would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges:
{31:12} For it is a
fire that consumes to destruction, and would root out all my increase.
{31:13} "If I have despised the cause of my male servant or of my female servant, when they contended with me;
{31:14} What then shall I do when God rises up? When he visits, what shall I answer him?
{31:15} Didn't he who made me in the womb make him? Didn't one fashion us in the womb?
{31:16} "If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
{31:17} or have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless has not eaten of it
{31:18} (no, from my youth he grew up with me as with a
father, her have I guided from my mother's womb);
{31:19} if I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or that the needy had no covering;
{31:20} if his heart hasn't
blessed me, if he hasn't been warmed with my sheep's
fleece;
{31:21} if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, because I saw my help in the
gate,
{31:22} then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder
blade, and my arm be broken from the bone.
{31:23} For calamity from God is a terror to me. Because his majesty, I can do nothing.
{31:24} "If I have made
gold my
hope, and have said to the fine gold, 'You are my confidence;'
{31:25} If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because my hand had gotten much;
{31:26} if I have seen the sun when it shined, or the moon moving in splendor,
{31:27} and my heart has been secretly enticed, and my hand threw a
kiss from my mouth,
{31:28} this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges; for I should have denied the God who is above.
{31:29} "If I have rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him;
{31:30} (yes, I have not allowed my mouth to sin by asking his life with a curse);
{31:31} if the men of my tent have not said, 'Who can find one who has not been filled with his meat?'
{31:32} (the
foreigner has not lodged in the street, but I have opened my
doors to the traveler);
{31:33} if like
Adam I have covered my transgressions, by hiding my iniquity in my heart,
{31:34} 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--
{31:35} oh that I had one to hear me! (behold, here is my signature, let the Almighty answer me); let the accuser write my indictment!
{31:36} Surely I would carry it on my shoulder; and I would bind it to me as a
crown.
{31:37} I would declare to him the number of my steps. As a prince would I go near to him.
{31:38} If my land cries out against me, and its
furrows weep together;
{31:39} if I have eaten its fruits without money, or have caused its owners to lose their life,
{31:40} let briars grow instead of wheat, and stinkweed instead of
barley." The words of
Job are ended.
Job Chapter 31 Back Next