Job 31

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 should 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 (yes, I have 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.”