Job 31
1I made a covenant with mine eyes, 1 And I will not think upon a virgin. 1
2Now what portion has God given from above? 1 And is there an inheritance given of the Mighty One from the highest? 1
3Alas! destruction to the unrighteous, 1 And rejection to them that do iniquity. 1
4Will he not see my way, 1 And number all my steps? 1
5But if I had gone with scorners, 1 And if too my foot has hastened to deceit 1
6(For I am weighed in a just balance, 1 And the Lord knows my innocence): 1
7If my foot has turned aside out of the way, 1 Or if my heart has followed mine eye, 1 And if too I have touched gifts with my hands; 1
8Then let me sow, and let others eat; 1 And let me be uprooted on the earth. 1
9If my heart has gone forth after another man’s wife, 1 And if I laid wait at her doors; 1
10Then let my wife also please another, 1 And let my children be brought low. 1
11For the rage of anger is not to be controlled, 1 In the case of defiling another man’s wife. 1
12For it is a fire burning on every side, 1 And whomsoever it attacks, it utterly destroys. 1
13And if too I despised the judgment of my servant or my handmaid, 1 When they pleaded with me; 1
14What then shall I do if the Lord should try me? 1 And if also he should at all visit me, can I make an answer? 1
15Were not they too formed as I also was formed in the womb? 1 Yea, we were formed in the same womb. 1
16But the helpless missed not whatever need they had, 1 And I did not cause the eye of the widow to fail. 1
17And if too I ate my morsel alone, 1 And did not impart of it to the orphan 1
18(For I nourished them as a father from my youth, 1 And guided them from my mother’s womb). 1
19And if too I overlooked the naked as he was perishing, and did not clothe him; 1
20And if the poor did not bless me, 1 And their shoulders were not warmed with the fleece of my lambs; 1
21If I lifted my hand against an orphan, 1 Trusting that my strength was far superior to his: 1
22Let then my shoulder start from the bladebone, 1 And my arm be crushed off from the elbow. 1
23For the fear of the Lord constrained me, 1 And I cannot bear up by reason of his burden. 1
24If I made gold my treasure, 1 And if too I trusted the precious stone; 1
25And if too I rejoiced when my wealth was abundant, 1 And if too I laid my hand on innumerable treasures 1
26(Do we not see the shining sun eclipsed, 1 And the moon waning? for they have not power to continue): 1
27And if my heart was secretly deceived, 1 And if I have laid my hand upon my mouth and kissed it: 1
28Let this also then be reckoned to me as the greatest iniquity: 1 For I should have lied against the Lord Most High. 1
29And if too I was glad at the fall of mine enemies, 1 And my heart said, Aha! 1
30Let then mine ear hear my curse, 1 And let me be a byword among my people in my affliction. 1
31And if too my handmaids have often said, 1 Oh that we might be satisfied with his flesh 1 (Whereas I was very kind: 1
32For the stranger did not lodge without, 1 And my door was opened to everyone that came): 1
33Or if too having sinned unintentionally, I hid my sin 1
34(For I did not stand in awe of a great multitude, so as not to declare boldly before them): 1 And if too I permitted a poor man to go out of my door with an empty bosom 1
35(Oh that I had a hearer), 1 And if I had not feared the hand of the Lord; 1 And as to the written charge which I had against anyone, 1
36I would place it as a chaplet on my shoulders, and read it. 1
37And if not, tearing it up I would return it, 1 Having taken nothing from the debtor. 1
38If at any time the land groaned against me, 1 And if its furrows mourned together; 1
39And if I ate its strength alone without price, 1 And if too I grieved the heart of the owner of the soil, by taking aught from him: 1
40Then let the nettle come up to me instead of wheat, 1 And a bramble instead of barley. 1 And Job ceased speaking.