Job
Chapter 31
1 I made a covenant with mine eyes; how then should I look
upon a maid?
2 For what would be the portion of G-d from above, and the
heritage of the Almighty from on high?
3 Is it not calamity to the unrighteous, and disaster to the
workers of iniquity?
4 Doth not He see my ways, and count all my steps?
5 If I have walked with vanity, and my foot hath hasted to
deceit--
6 Let me be weighed in a just balance, that G-d may know mine
integrity--
7 If my step hath turned out of the way, and my heart walked
after mine eyes, and if any spot hath cleaved to my hands;
8 Then let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let the produce
of my field be rooted out.
9 If my heart have been enticed unto a woman, and I have lain
in wait at my neighbour's door;
10 Then let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow
down upon her.
11 For that were a heinous crime; yea, it were an iniquity to
be punished by the judges.
12 For it is a fire that consumeth unto destruction, and
would root out all mine increase.
13 If I did despise the cause of my man-servant, or of my
maid-servant, when they contended with me--
14 What then shall I do when G-d riseth up? And when He
remembereth, 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 aught that the poor desired, 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 Nay, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father,
and I have been her guide from my mother's womb.
19 If I have seen any wanderer in want of clothing, or that
the needy had no 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,
because I saw my help in the gate;
22 Then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder-blade, and
mine arm be broken from the bone.
23 For calamity from G-d was a terror to me, and by reason of
His majesty I could do nothing.
24 If I have made gold my hope, and have said to the fine
gold: 'Thou art my confidence';
25 If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because my
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, and my mouth hath
kissed my hand;
28 This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judges;
for I should have lied to G-d that is above.
29 If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, or
exulted when evil found him--
30 Yea, I suffered not my mouth to sin by asking his life
with a curse.
31 If the men of my tent said not: 'Who can find one that
hath not been satisfied with his meat?'
32 The stranger did not lodge in the street; my doors I
opened to the roadside.
33 If after the manner of men I covered my transgressions, by
hiding mine iniquity in my bosom--
34 Because I feared the great multitude, and the most
contemptible among families terrified me, so that I kept silence, and went not
out of the door.
35 Oh that I had one to hear me! --Lo, here is my signature,
let the Almighty answer me--and that I had the indictment which mine adversary
hath written!
36 Surely I would carry it upon my shoulder; I would bind it
unto me as a crown.
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 out against me, and the furrows thereof
weep together;
39 If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, or have
caused the tillers thereof to be disappointed--
40 Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and noisome weeds
instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.
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