Job 31

31 ¹ I made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin? ² For what portion would I have from God above, what inheritance from the Almighty on high? ³ Is it not calamity for the unjust, and disaster for those who do evil? ⁴ Does he not see my ways, and count my every step?

⁵ If I have lived by falsehood, and my foot has rushed into deceit— ⁶ let him weigh me on honest scales, and let God know my integrity— ⁷ if my steps have turned from the way, and my heart has followed my eyes, and any stain has clung to my hands, ⁸ then let me sow and another eat, and let what springs up for me be uprooted.

⁹ If my heart has been enticed by a woman, and I have lurked at my neighbor's door, ¹⁰ then let my wife serve another man, and let others sleep with her. ¹¹ For that would be a shameful crime, a sin deserving judgment; ¹² for it is a fire that consumes down to Destruction, and would burn away all my harvest. ^a a v12 Abaddon: the realm of destruction and the dead — the deepest pit of the underworld in Hebrew thought.

¹³ If I have denied justice to my male or female servant when they brought a complaint against me, ¹⁴ what then will I do when God rises up? When he calls me to account, what will I answer him? ¹⁵ Did not the one who made me in the womb make him also? Did not the same one form us both in the womb?

¹⁶ If I have kept the poor from what they needed, or let the widow's eyes grow weary, ¹⁷ or eaten my food alone while the orphan went without— ¹⁸ though from my youth I raised him as a father would, and from my mother's womb I guided the widow— ¹⁹ if I have seen anyone perishing for lack of clothing, or a needy person with no covering, ²⁰ if his whole being has not blessed me for warming him with the fleece of my sheep, ²¹ if I have raised my hand against the orphan because I saw my backing in the court, ²² then let my shoulder be wrenched from its blade, and my arm be broken at the socket. ²³ For calamity from God was a terror to me, and before his majesty I could do nothing.

²⁴ If I have made gold my confidence, or said to fine gold, 'You are my security,' ²⁵ if I have gloated that my wealth was great, that my hand had gained so much, ²⁶ if I have looked at the sun when it shone, or the moon moving in splendor, ²⁷ so that my heart was secretly enticed, and my hand blew them a kiss in worship, ²⁸ this too would be a sin deserving judgment, for I would have been false to God above.

²⁹ If I have rejoiced at the ruin of the one who hated me, or thrilled when harm overtook him— ³⁰ I never let my mouth sin by calling down a curse on his life— ³¹ if the men of my household have never said, 'Who has not been filled from his table?'— ³² no stranger ever spent the night in the street, for I opened my doors to the traveler. ³³ If I have covered my transgressions as others do, hiding my guilt within my heart, ³⁴ because I so feared the crowd, and the contempt of clans terrified me, that I kept silent and would not go outside—

³⁵ Oh, that someone would hear me! Here is my signature—let the Almighty answer me! Let my accuser write out his indictment! ³⁶ Surely I would carry it on my shoulder, I would bind it on me like a crown. ³⁷ I would give him an account of my every step; like a prince I would approach him.

³⁸ If my land has cried out against me, and its furrows have wept together, ³⁹ if I have eaten its yield without payment, or crushed the life out of its owners, ⁴⁰ then let thistles grow instead of wheat, and stinkweed instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.