Job 31

1 I made a covenant with my eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?

2 For what portion of God is there from above? and what inheritance of the Almighty from on high?

3 Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity?

4 Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps?

5 If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit;

6 Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know my integrity.

7 If my step hath turned out of the way, and my heart walked after my eyes, and if any blot hath cleaved to my hands;

8 Then let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted out.

9 If my heart hath been deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at my neighbour’s door;

10 Then let my wife grind to another, and let others bow down upon her.

11 For this is an heinous crime; yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges.

12 For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and would root out all my increase.

13 If I despised the cause of my male or female servant, when they contended with me;

14 What then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him?

15 Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb?

16 If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail;

17 Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten of it;

18 (For from my youth he was brought up with me, as with a father, and I have guided her from my mother’s womb; )

19 If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering;

20 If his loins have not blessed me, and if he hath not been warmed with the fleece of my sheep;

21 If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate:

22 Then let my arm fall from my shoulder blade, and my arm be broken from the bone.

23 For destruction from God was a terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure.

24 If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence;

25 If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because my hand had gained much;

26 If I have beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness;

27 And my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand:

28 This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should have denied the God that is above.

29 If I have rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, or have lifted up myself when evil found him:

30 Neither have I allowed my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his soul.

31 If the men of my tent have not said, O that we had of his flesh! we cannot be satisfied.

32 The stranger did not lodge in the street: but I opened my doors to the traveller.

33 If I have covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding my iniquity in my bosom:

34 Did I fear a great multitude, or did the contempt of families terrify me, that I kept silence, and went not out of the door?

35 O that one would hear me! behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, and that my adversary had written a book.

36 Surely I would take it upon my shoulder, and bind it as a crown to me.

37 I would declare to him the number of my steps; as a prince would I go near to him.

38 If my land crieth against me, or its furrows likewise complain;

39 If I have eaten the fruits of it without money, or have caused its owners to lose their life:

40 Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and weeds instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.