Job 31 (WEB) - Holy Bible

¹"I made a covenant with my eyes, How then should I look lustfully at a young woman?

²For what is the portion from God above, And the heritage from the Almighty on high?

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

⁴Doesn't he see my ways, And number all my steps?

⁵"If I have walked with falsehood, And my foot has hurried to deceit

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

⁷If my step has turned out of the way, If my heart walked after my eyes, If any defilement has stuck to my hands,

⁸Then let me sow, and let another eat; Yes, 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;

¹⁰Then let my wife grind for another, And let others sleep with her.

¹¹For that would be a heinous crime; Yes, it would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges:

¹²For it is a fire that consumes to destruction, And would root out all my increase.

¹³"If I have despised the cause of my man-servant Or of my maid-servant, When they contended with me;

¹⁴What then shall I do when God rises up? When he visits, what shall I answer him?

¹⁵Didn't he who made me in the womb make him? Didn't 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,

¹⁷Or have eaten my morsel alone, And the fatherless has not eaten of it

¹⁸(No, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, Her have I guided from my mother's womb);

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

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

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

²²Then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder-blade, And my arm be broken from the bone.

²³For calamity from God is a terror to me, 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;'

²⁵If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great, And because my hand had gotten much;

²⁶If I have seen the sun when it shined, Or the moon moving in splendor,

²⁷And my heart has been secretly enticed, My hand threw a kiss from my mouth:

²⁸This also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges; For I should have denied the God who is above.

²⁹"If I have rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me, Or lifted up myself when evil found him;

³⁰(Yes, I have not allowed my mouth to sin By asking his life with a curse);

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

³²(The foreigner has not lodged in the street; But I have opened my doors to the traveler);

³³If like Adam I have covered my transgressions, By hiding my iniquity in my heart,

³⁴Because 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--

³⁵Oh that I had one to hear me! (Behold, here is my signature, let the Almighty answer me); Let the accuser write my indictment!

³⁶Surely I would carry it on my shoulder; And I would bind it to me as a crown.

³⁷I would declare to him the number of my steps. As a prince would I go near to him.

³⁸If my land cries out against me, And the furrows of it weep together;

³⁹If I have eaten the fruits of it without money, Or have caused the owners of it to lose their life:

⁴⁰Let briars grow instead of wheat, And stinkweed instead of barley." The words of Job are ended.