Job 31

1I made a covenant with my eyes; how then should I gaze upon a virgin?

2What portion from God above, and heritage from the Almighty on high?

3Is it not calamity for the wicked, and disaster for the doers of evil?

4Does he not see my ways and count all my steps?

5If I have gone along with falsehood, and my foot has rushed to deceit.

6Let him weigh me on scales of righteousness, that God may know my integrity.

7If my step has strayed from the way, and my heart has followed my eyes, and any blemish has clung to my hands,

8Let me sow, and let another eat; let my offspring be rooted out.

9If my heart has been allured toward a woman, or I have lain in wait at my neighbor's door,

10Let my wife grind for another, and let others bow down upon her.

11For it is lewdness, and it is an iniquity for the judges.

12For it is a fire to destruction that consumes and uproots all my produce.

13If I despised the cause of my servant or the cause of my maidservant when they contended with me,

14What shall I do when God rises up? When he visits, what shall I answer him?

15Did not the one who made me in the womb make him, and did not one fashion us in the womb?

16If I denied the poor their desire, or made the widow's eyes fail,

17or have eaten my morsel by myself, and the orphan has not eaten from it

18For from my youth he reared me as a father, and from my mother's womb I guided her.

19if I have seen anyone perish from lack of clothing, or the needy without covering;

20if even his loins have not blessed me, and he has not warmed himself with the fleece of my sheep

21if I have lifted my hand against an orphan because I saw my help in the gate

22let my shoulder fall from the shoulder blade, and my arm break from the bone.

23For calamity from God is a terror to me, and because of his majesty I cannot endure.

24If I have set gold as my confidence and said to pure gold, "You are my confidence,"

25If I was glad because my wealth was abundant, and because my hand had found much.

26If I beheld the light when it shone, or the moon advancing in brilliance.

27my heart was secretly allured, and my hand kissed my mouth.

28This too would be an iniquity for judgment, for I would have denied God above.

29If I rejoiced in the ruin of my foe or exalted myself when evil befell him,

30Nor have I allowed my mouth to sin by requesting a curse upon his soul.

31If the men of my tent have not said, "Who will provide any of his meat? We have not had our fill."

32No stranger lodges outside; I open my doors to the traveler.

33If I covered my transgressions like Adam by hiding my iniquity in my bosom,

34For I dreaded the great multitude, and contempt of families terrified me, so I kept silent and did not go out the door.

35Oh that one would give me someone to hear me! Behold, here is my signature; let the Almighty answer me, and let my adversary write a book.

36I would bear it on my shoulder and bind it to me as a crown.

37I would tell him the number of my steps; like a prince, I would draw near to him.

38If my ground cries out against me, and its furrows weep together,

39if I have eaten its strength without silver, or have caused its owners to breathe out their lives,

40Let thorns come up instead of wheat, and stinkweed instead of barley. The words of Job are finished.