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