Job 31

¹ I made an agreement with my eyes; how then might my eyes be looking on a virgin?

² For what is God’s reward from on high, or the heritage given by the Ruler of all from heaven?

³ Is it not trouble for the sinner, and destruction for the evil-doers?

⁴ Does he not see my ways, and are not my steps all numbered?

⁵ If I have gone in false ways, or my foot has been quick in working deceit;

⁶ (Let me be measured in upright scales, and let God see my righteousness:)

⁷ If my steps have been turned out of the way, or if my heart went after my eyes, or if the property of another is in my hands;

⁸ Let me put seed in the earth for another to have the fruit of it, and let my produce be uprooted.

⁹ If my heart went after another man’s wife, or if I was waiting secretly at my neighbour’s door;

¹⁰ Then let my wife give pleasure to another man and let others make use of her body.

¹¹ For that would be a crime; it would be an act for which punishment would be measured out by the judges:

¹² It would be a fire burning even to destruction, and taking away all my produce.

¹³ If I did wrong in the cause of my man-servant, or my woman-servant, when they went to law with me;

¹⁴ What then will I do when God comes as my judge? and what answer may I give to his questions?

¹⁵ Did not God make him as well as me? did he not give us life in our mothers’ bodies?

¹⁶ If I kept back the desire of the poor; if the widow’s eye was looking for help to no purpose;

¹⁷ If I kept my food for myself, and did not give some of it to the child with no father;

¹⁸ (For I was cared for by God as by a father from my earliest days; he was my guide from the body of my mother;)

¹⁹ If I saw one near to death for need of clothing, and that the poor had nothing covering him;

²⁰ If his back did not give me a blessing, and the wool of my sheep did not make him warm;

²¹ If my hand had been lifted up against him who had done no wrong, when I saw that I was supported by the judges;

²² May my arm be pulled from my body, and be broken from its base.

²³ For the fear of God kept me back, and because of his power I might not do such things.

²⁴ If I made gold my hope, or if I ever said to the best gold, I have put my faith in you;

²⁵ If I was glad because my wealth was great, and because my hand had got together a great store;

²⁶ If, when I saw the sun shining, and the moon moving on its bright way,

²⁷ A secret feeling of worship came into my heart, and my hand gave kisses from my mouth;

²⁸ That would have been another sin to be rewarded with punishment by the judges; for I would have been false to God on high.

²⁹ If I was glad at the trouble of my hater, and gave cries of joy when evil overtook him;

³⁰ (For I did not let my mouth give way to sin, in putting a curse on his life;)

³¹ If the men of my tent did not say, Who has not had full measure of his meat?

³² The traveller did not take his night’s rest in the street, and my doors were open to anyone on a journey;

³³ If I kept my evil doings covered, and my sin in the secret of my breast,

³⁴ For fear of the great body of people, or for fear that families might make sport of me, so that I kept quiet, and did not go out of my door;

³⁵ If only God would give ear to me, and the Ruler of all would give me an answer! or if what he has against me had been put in writing!

³⁶ Truly I would take up the book in my hands; it would be to me as a crown;

³⁷ I would make clear the number of my steps, I would put it before him like a prince! The words of Job are ended.

³⁸ If my land has made an outcry against me, or the ploughed earth has been in sorrow;

³⁹ If I have taken its produce without payment, causing the death of its owners;

⁴⁰ Then in place of grain let thorns come up, and in place of barley evil-smelling plants.