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