Job 31:1-40 KJ21

[1] "I made a covenant with mine eyes. Why then should I think upon a maid? [2] For what portion from God is there from above, and what inheritance of the Almighty from on high? [3] Is not destruction for the wicked, and a strange punishment for the workers of iniquity? [4] Doth not He see my ways, and count all my steps? [5] If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hastened to deceit, [6] let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine integrity. [7] If my step hath turned out of the way, and mine heart walked after mine eyes, and if any blot hath cleaved to mine hands, [8] then let me sow and let another eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted out. [9] "If mine heart has been deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at my neighbor's door, [10] then let my wife grind for another, and let others bow down upon her. [11] For this is a heinous crime; yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges. [12] For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase. [13] "If I have despised the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant when they contended with me, [14] what then shall I do when God riseth up? And when He visiteth, what shall I answer Him? [15] Did not He that made me in the womb make him? And did not 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 myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof [18] (for from my youth he was brought up with me as with a father, and I have guided her from my mother's womb); [19] if I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering; [20] if his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep; [21] if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate" [22] then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone. [23] For destruction from God was a terror to me, and by reason of His highness I could not endure. [24] "If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, 'Thou art my confidence'; [25] if I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because mine hand had gotten much; [26] if I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness, [27] and my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand- [28] this also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge, for I should have denied the God that is above. [29] "If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him, [30] neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his soul. [31] If the men of my tent said not, 'Oh that we had of his flesh! We cannot be satisfied'. [32] The stranger did not lodge in the street, but I opened my doors to the traveler. [33] If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom, [34] did I fear a great multitude, or did the contempt of families terrify me, that I kept silence and went not out of the door? [35] Oh, that One would hear me! Behold, my desire is that the Almighty would answer me, and that mine adversary had written a book! [36] Surely I would take it upon my shoulder, and bind it as a crown to me. [37] I would declare unto Him the number of my steps; as a prince would I go near unto Him. [38] "If my land cry against me, or that the furrows likewise thereof complain, [39] if I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life, [40] let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley." The words of Job are ended.