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31:1  “I made a covenant with my eyes; why then should I look upon a young woman?
31:2  For what portion of God is there from above? And what inheritance of the Almighty from on high?
31:3  Does not destruction belong to the wicked, and calamity to the workers of iniquity?
31:4  Does He not see my ways, and count all my steps?
31:5  “If I have walked in vanity, or if my foot has hurried after 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 path, and my heart has gone after my eyes, and if any spot has clung to my hands,
31:8  then let me sow, but let another eat; yes, let my offspring be rooted out.
31:9  “If my heart has been deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at my neighbor’s door,
31:10  then let my wife grind for another, and let others bow down over her.
31:11  For this is a heinous crime; yes, it is 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 or female servant when they complained against me,
31:14  what then will I do when God rises up? And when He visits, what will I answer Him?
31:15  Did not He who made me in the womb make him? And did not the same One fashion us in the womb?
31:16  “If I have kept the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
31:17  or have eaten my morsel by myself, so that the fatherless could not eat of it
31:18  (but from my youth he was brought up with me, as with a father, and I have guided the widow from my mother’s womb);
31:19  if I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing, or any poor 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 lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw I had help in the gate;
31:22  then let my arm fall from my shoulder blade, and my arm be broken from the bone.
31:23  For destruction from God is a terror to me, and because of His highness I cannot endure.
31:24  “If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, ‘You are my confidence’;
31:25  if I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because my hand had gained much;
31:26  if I saw the sun when it shined, or the moon moving in brightness;
31:27  and my heart has been secretly enticed, or my mouth has kissed my hand;
31:28  this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judge, for I would have denied the God who is above.
31:29  “If I rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me, or lifted up myself when disaster found him
31:30  (nor have I allowed my mouth to sin by wishing for a curse on his soul);
31:31  if the men of my tent have not said, ‘Who is there who has not been satisfied with his meat?’
31:32  (the stranger has not lodged in the street, but I opened my doors to the traveler);
31:33  if I covered my transgressions as any man, by hiding my iniquity in my heart,
31:34  did I fear a great multitude, or did the contempt of families terrify me, so that I kept silence, and did not go out of the door?
31:35  “Oh, that one would hear me! Behold, my desire is that the Almighty would answer me, and that the One who contends against me had written a book!
31:36  Surely I would carry it on my shoulder and bind it on me like a crown.
31:37  I would declare to Him the number of my steps; like a prince I would approach Him.
31:38  “If my land cries out against me, and its furrows also weep together;
31:39  if I have eaten its fruit without money, or have caused its owners to lose their life;
31:40  let thistles grow instead of wheat, and weeds instead of barley.” The words of Job are ended.