The Book of Job

Chapter-31

Job 31:1 I reached an agreement with my eyes, that I would not so much as think about a virgin.

 

Job 31:2 For what portion should God from above hold for me, and what inheritance should the Almighty from on high keep?

 

Job 31:3 Is not destruction held for the wicked and repudiation kept for those who work injustice?

 

Job 31:4 Does he not examine my ways and number all my steps?

 

Job 31:5 If I have walked in vanity, or if my foot has hurried towards deceitfulness,

 

Job 31:6 let him weigh me in a just balance, and let God know my simplicity.

 

Job 31:7 If my steps have turned aside from the way, or if my heart has followed my eyes, or if a blemish has clung to my hands,

 

Job 31:8 then may I sow, and let another consume, and let my offspring be eradicated.

 

Job 31:9 If my heart has been deceived over a woman, or if I have waited in ambush at my friend’s door,

 

Job 31:10 then let my wife be the harlot of another, and let other men lean over her.

 

Job 31:11 For this is a crime and a very great injustice.

 

Job 31:12 It is a fire devouring all the way to perdition, and it roots out all that springs forth.

 

Job 31:13 If I have despised being subject to judgment with my servant or my maid, when they had any complaint against me,

 

Job 31:14 then what will I do when God rises to judge, and, when he inquires, how will I respond to him?

 

Job 31:15 Is not he who created me in the womb, also he who labored to make him? And did not one and the same form me in the womb?

 

Job 31:16 If I have denied the poor what they wanted and have made the eyes of the widow wait;

 

Job 31:17 if I have eaten my morsel of food alone, while orphans have not eaten from it;

 

Job 31:18 (for from my infancy mercy grew with me, and it came out with me from my mother’s womb;)

 

Job 31:19 if I have looked down on him who was perishing because he had no clothing and the poor without any covering,

 

Job 31:20 if his sides have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep;

 

Job 31:21 if I have lifted up my hand over an orphan, even when it might seem to me that I the advantage over him at the gate;

 

Job 31:22 then may my shoulder fall from its joint, and may my arm, with all its bones, be broken.

 

Job 31:23 For I have always feared God, like waves flowing over me, whose weight I was unable to bear.

 

Job 31:24 If I have considered gold to be my strength, or if I have called purified gold ‘my Trust;’

 

Job 31:25 if I have rejoiced over my great success, and over the many things my hand has obtained;

 

Job 31:26 if I gazed upon the sun when it shined and the moon advancing brightly,

 

Job 31:27 so that my heart rejoiced in secret and I kissed my hand with my mouth,

 

Job 31:28 which is a very great iniquity and a denial against the most high God;

 

Job 31:29 if I have been glad at the ruin of him who hated me and have exulted that evil found him,

 

Job 31:30 for I have not been given my throat to sin by asking for a curse on his soul;

 

Job 31:31 if the men around my tabernacle have not said: “He might give us some of his food, so that we will be filled,”

 

Job 31:32 for the foreigner did not remain at the door, my door was open to the traveler;

 

Job 31:33 if, as man does, I have hidden my sin and have concealed my iniquity in my bosom;

 

Job 31:34 if I became frightened by an excessive crowd, and the disrespect of close relatives alarmed me, so that I would much rather have remained silent or have gone out the door;

 

Job 31:35 then, would he grant me a hearing, so that the Almighty would listen to my desire, and he who judges would himself write a book,

 

Job 31:36 which I would then carry on my shoulder and wrap around me like a crown?

 

Job 31:37 With each of my steps, I would pronounce and offer it, as if to a prince.

 

Job 31:38 So, if my land cries out against me, and if its furrows weep with it,

 

Job 31:39 if I have used its fruits for nothing but money and have afflicted the souls of its tillers,

 

Job 31:40 then, may thistles spring forth for me instead of grain, and thorns instead of barley.... This ended the words of Job.