Job 31:1-40 WEB

[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 neighbor’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 splendor, [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 traveler); [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.