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 my 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 a 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 lift 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 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,
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 rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me,
Or lift 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,
O 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 O 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.