Home Master Index
←Prev   Job 31 as rendered by/in  Next→ 


31:1  “I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?
31:2  What would be my portion from God above and my heritage from the Almighty on high?
31:3  Is not calamity for the unrighteous, and disaster for the workers of iniquity?
31:4  Does not he see my ways and number all my steps?
31:5  “If I have walked with falsehood and my foot has hastened 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 gone after my eyes, and if any spot has stuck 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 towards a woman, and I have lain in wait at my neighbour's door,
31:10  then let my wife grind for another, and let others bow down on her.
31:11  For that would be a heinous crime; that would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges;
31:12  for that would be a fire that consumes as far as Abaddon, and it would burn to the root all my increase.
31:13  “If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant, when they brought a complaint against me,
31:14  what then shall I do when God rises up? When he makes enquiry, what shall I answer him?
31:15  Did not he who made me in the womb make him? 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 fatherless has not eaten of it
31:18  (for from my youth the fatherless grew up with me as with 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 the needy without covering,
31:20  if his body has not blessed me, and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep,
31:21  if I have raised my hand against the fatherless, because I saw my help in 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 abundant or because my hand had found much,
31:26  if I have looked at the sun when it shone, or the moon moving in splendour,
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 would have been false to God above.
31:29  “If I have rejoiced at the ruin of him who hated me, or exulted when evil overtook him
31:30  (I have not let my mouth sin by asking for his life with a curse),
31:31  if the men of my tent have not said, ‘Who is there that has not been filled with his meat?’
31:32  (the sojourner has not lodged in the street; I have opened my doors to the traveller),
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  Oh, that I had one to hear me! (Here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me!) Oh, 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 as 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 made its owners breathe their last,
31:40  let thorns grow instead of wheat, and foul weeds instead of barley.” The words of Job are ended.