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


31:1  “I made an agreement with my eyes not to look at a young woman in a way that would make me want her.
31:2  What does God above have for us? How does God All-Powerful repay people from his home high in heaven?
31:3  He sends trouble to the wicked and disaster to those who do wrong.
31:4  God is the one who knows what I do and sees every step I take.
31:5  “I have not lied to anyone. I never tried to cheat people.
31:6  If God would use accurate scales, he would know that I am innocent.
31:7  If I ever stepped off the right path, if my eyes led my heart to do evil, or if my hands are dirty with sin,
31:8  then let others eat what I planted. Let my crops be pulled up by the roots.
31:9  “If I have desired another woman or waited at my neighbor’s door to sin with his wife,
31:10  then let my wife serve someone else, and let other men sleep with her.
31:11  To do such a thing would be shameful, a sin that must be punished.
31:12  Such sin is like a fire that burns until it destroys everything. It would completely ruin my life’s work.
31:13  “If I refused to be fair to my slaves when they had a complaint against me,
31:14  then what will I do when I must face God? What will I say when he asks me to explain what I did?
31:15  The one who made me in my mother’s womb also made them. God shaped us all inside our mothers.
31:16  “I have never refused to help the poor. I always gave widows what they needed.
31:17  I have never been selfish with my food. I shared what I had with orphans.
31:18  All my life I have been like a father to orphans and have taken care of widows.
31:19  Whenever I found people suffering because they didn’t have clothes or saw a poor man with no coat,
31:20  I always gave them something to wear. I used the wool from my own sheep to make them warm. And they thanked me with all their heart.
31:21  I never threatened an orphan, even when I knew I had support in court.
31:22  If I ever did that, may my arm be pulled from its socket and fall from my shoulder!
31:23  But I didn’t do any of these bad things. I fear God’s punishment too much. His majesty scares me.
31:24  “I have never trusted in riches. I never said even to pure gold, ‘You are my hope.’
31:25  I have been wealthy, but that didn’t make me proud. I earned a lot of money, but that is not what made me happy.
31:26  I have never worshiped the bright sun or the beautiful moon.
31:27  I was never foolish enough to worship the sun and the moon.
31:28  This is also a sin that must be punished. If I had worshiped them, I would have been unfaithful to God All-Powerful.
31:29  “I have never been happy when my enemies were destroyed. I have never laughed at my enemies when bad things happened to them.
31:30  I have never let my mouth sin by cursing my enemies and wishing for them to die.
31:31  The people in my house know that I have never let anyone go hungry.
31:32  I always invited strangers into my home so that they would not have to sleep in the streets.
31:33  I have not tried to hide my sins as some people do. I have never hidden my guilt.
31:34  I was never so afraid of what people might say or of making enemies that I kept my sins secret and avoided going out.
31:35  “How I wish someone would listen to me! I will sign my name to all I have said. Now let God All-Powerful answer me. Let him make a list of what he thinks I did wrong.
31:36  I would wear it around my neck. I would put it on my head like a crown.
31:37  Then I could explain everything I have done. I could come to God with my head held high like a prince.
31:38  “I did not use my land in a wrong way. I never caused it to suffer.
31:39  I always paid the workers for the food I got from the land. I never let any of them starve.
31:40  If I ever did any of these bad things, let thorns and weeds grow in my fields instead of wheat and barley!” Job’s words are finished.