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