Job 31

¹ I made a covenant with mine eyes; How then should I look upon a virgin? ² __a__FOOTNOTE__a__ Job 31:2 Or, For what portion should I have of God . . . And what heritage etc.? Is there not calamity etc.? __b__FOOTNOTE__b__ 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 Doth not he see my ways, And number all my steps? ⁵ If I have walked with falsehood, 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 my heart walked after mine eyes, And if any spot hath cleaved to my hands: ⁸ Then let me sow, and let another eat; the produce of my field be rooted out. ⁹ If my heart hath been enticed unto a woman, And I have laid wait at my neighbor’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 have despised the cause of my man-servant or of my maid-servant, 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 her have I guided 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 hath not been 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 is a terror to me, And by reason of his majesty I can do nothing. ²⁴ If I have made gold my hope, Thou art my confidence; ²⁵ If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great, And because my hand had gotten much; ²⁶ If I have beheld the sun when it shined, Or the moon walking in brightness, ²⁷ And my heart hath been secretly enticed, my mouth hath kissed my hand: ²⁸ This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judges; For I should have denied the God that is above. ²⁹ If I have rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, Or lifted up myself when evil found him ³⁰ (Yea, I have not suffered 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 that hath not been filled with his meat? ³² (The sojourner hath not lodged in the street; the traveller); ³³ If like Adam I have 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! signature, let the Almighty answer me) that I had the __a__FOOTNOTE__a__ Job 31:35 Hebrew book. __b__FOOTNOTE__b__ 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; go near unto him. ³⁸ If my land crieth 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, __a__FOOTNOTE__a__ Job 31:40 Or, noisome weeds __b__FOOTNOTE__b__ cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.