JOB 31

1 I MADE a covenant with mine eyes; how then should I look upon a maid?⋮

2 For what is the portion of God 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 number all my steps?⋮

5 If I have walked with vanity, and my foot hath hasted 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 spot hath cleaved to mine hands:⋮

8 Then let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let the produce of my field be rooted out.⋮

9 If mine heart have been enticed unto a woman, and I have laid 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 an 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 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 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 perish for 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 God was a terror to me, and by reason of his excellency 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 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, 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 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 (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 flesh?⋮

32 The stranger did not lodge in the street; but I opened my doors to the traveller;⋮

33 If like Adam I covered my transgressions, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom;⋮

34 Because I feared the great multitude, and the contempt of 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 owners thereof to lose their life:⋮

40 Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.⋮