Chapter 31
1 " I made a covenant with my eyes ; how then should I look lustfully at a young woman?
2 For what is the portion from God above , and the heritage from the Almighty on high ?
3 Is it not calamity to the unrighteous , and disaster to the workers of iniquity ?
4 Doesn’t he see my ways , and count all my steps ?
5 "If I have walked with falsehood , and my foot has hurried to deceit
6 (let me be weighed in an even balance , that God may know my integrity );
7 if my step has turned out of the way , if my heart walked after my eyes , if any defilement has stuck to my hands ,
8 then let me sow , and let another eat. Yes, let the produce of my field be rooted out .
9 "If my heart has been enticed to a woman, and I have laid wait at my neighbour ’s door ,
10 then let my wife grind for another, and let others sleep with her .
11 For that would be a heinous crime . Yes , it would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges ,
12 for it is a fire that consumes to destruction, and would root out all my increase .
13 "If I have despised the cause of my male servant or of my female servant , when they contended with me ,
14 what then will I do when God rises up ? When he visits, what will I answer him ?
15 Didn’t he who made me in the womb make him ? Didn’t 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 alone , and the fatherless has not eaten of it
18 (no, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, I have guided her from my mother’s womb);
19 if I have seen any perish for want of clothing , or that the needy had no covering ;
20 if his heart hasn’t blessed me , if he hasn’t been warmed with my sheep ’s fleece ;
21 if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless , because I saw my help in the gate ;
22 then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder blade , and my arm be broken from the bone .
23 For calamity from God is a terror to me . Because of his majesty , I can do nothing .
24 " If I have made gold my hope , and have said to the fine gold , ‘ You are my confidence ;’
25 If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great , and because my hand had gotten much ;
26 if I have seen the sun when it shined , or the moon moving in splendour,
27 and my heart has been secretly enticed , and my hand threw a kiss from my mouth ;
28 this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges, for I would have denied the God who is above .
29 " If I have rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me , or lifted up myself when evil found him
30 ( I have certainly not allowed my mouth to sin by asking his life with a curse);
31 if the men of my tent have not said, ‘ Who can find one who has not been filled with his meat ?’
32 ( the foreigner has not camped in the street , but I have opened my doors to the traveller);
33 if like Adam I have covered my transgressions , by hiding my iniquity in my heart,
34 because I feared the great multitude , and the contempt of families terrified me , so that I kept silence , and didn’t go out of the door —
35 oh that I had one to hear me ! Behold , here is my signature ! Let the Almighty answer me ! Let the accuser write my indictment !
36 Surely I would carry it on my shoulder , and I would bind it to me as a crown .
37 I would declare to him the number of my steps . I would go near to him like a prince .
38 If my land cries out against me , and its furrows weep together ;
39 if I have eaten its fruits without money , or have caused its owners to lose their life ,
40 let briers grow instead of wheat , and stinkweed instead of barley ." The words of Job are ended .