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31:1  “I have made a covenant with my eyes; how, then, could I look upon a virgin?
31:2  What would be my portion from God above and my heritage from the Almighty on high?
31:3  Does not calamity befall the unrighteous and disaster the workers of iniquity?
31:4  Does he not 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 a just balance, and let God know my integrity!—
31:7  if my step has turned aside from the way, and my heart has followed my eyes, and if any spot has clung to my hands,
31:8  then let me sow and another eat, and let what grows for me be rooted out.
31:9  “If my heart has been enticed by a woman and I have lain in wait at my neighbor’s door,
31:10  then let my wife grind for another, and let other men kneel over her.
31:11  For that would be a heinous crime; that would be a criminal offense;
31:12  for that would be a fire consuming down to Abaddon, and it would burn to the root all my harvest.
31:13  “If I have rejected the cause of my male or female slaves, when they brought a complaint against me,
31:14  what then shall I do when God rises up? When he makes inquiry, what shall I answer him?
31:15  Did not he who made me in the womb make them? And did not one fashion us in the womb?
31:16  “If I have withheld anything that the poor desired or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail
31:17  or have eaten my morsel alone and the orphan has not eaten from it—
31:18  for from my youth I reared the orphan like a father, and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow—
31:19  if I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing or a poor person without covering,
31:20  whose loins have not blessed me, and who was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep;
31:21  if I have raised my hand against the orphan because I saw I had supporters at the gate;
31:22  then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder, and let my arm be broken from its socket.
31:23  For I was in terror of calamity from God, and I could not have faced his majesty.
31:24  “If I have made gold my trust or called fine gold my confidence,
31:25  if I have rejoiced because my wealth was great or because my hand had gotten much,
31:26  if I have looked at the sun when it shone or the moon moving in splendor,
31:27  and my heart has been secretly enticed, and my mouth has kissed my hand,
31:28  this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges, for I should have been false to God above.
31:29  “If I have rejoiced at the ruin of those who hated me or exulted when evil overtook them—
31:30  I have not let my mouth sin by asking for their lives with a curse—
31:31  if those of my tent ever said, ‘O that we might be sated with his flesh!’—
31:32  the stranger has not lodged in the street; I have opened my doors to the traveler—
31:33  if I have concealed my transgressions as others do, by hiding my iniquity in my bosom,
31:34  because I stood in great fear of the multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silence and did not go out of doors—
31:35  O that I had one to hear me! (Here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me!) O that I had the indictment written by my adversary!
31:36  Surely I would carry it on my shoulder; I would bind it on me like a crown;
31:37  I would give him an account of all my steps; like a prince I would approach him.
31:38  “If my land has cried out against me and its furrows have wept together,
31:39  if I have eaten its yield without payment and caused the death of its owners,
31:40  let thorns grow instead of wheat and foul weeds instead of barley.” The words of Job are ended.