< Job 31

[1] I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?

[2] For what portion of God is there from above? and what inheritance of the Almighty from on high?

[3] Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment to 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 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 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 have been deceived by a woman, or if 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 this is an 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 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 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 rejoice 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 rejoice 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 tabernacle 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 traveller.

[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.