The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Job 31
1 “I made a covenant with my eyes;
how then should I look lustfully at a
young woman?
2 For what is the portion from God above,
and the heritage from the Almighty on
high?
3 Is it not calamity to the unrighteous,
and disaster to the workers of iniquity?
4 Doesn’t he see my ways,
and count all my steps?
5 “If I have walked with falsehood,
and my foot has hurried to deceit
6 (let me be weighed in an even balance,
that God may know my integrity);
7 if my step has turned out of the way,
if my heart walked after my eyes,
if any defilement has stuck to my
hands,
8 then let me sow, and let another eat.
Yes, let the produce of my field be
rooted out.
9 “If my heart has been enticed to a woman,
and I have laid wait at my neighbor’s
door,
10 then let my wife grind for another,
and let others sleep with her.
11 For that would be a heinous crime.
Yes, it would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges,
12 for it is a fire that consumes to destruction,
and would root out all my increase.
13 “If I have despised the cause of my male
servant or of my female servant, when they contended with me,
14 what then will I do when God rises up?
When he visits, what will I answer
him?
15 Didn’t he who made me in the womb
make him? Didn’t 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 alone,
and the fatherless has not eaten of it
18 (no, from my youth he grew up with me
as with a father, I have guided her from my mother’s
womb);
19 if I have seen any perish for want of
clothing, or that the needy had no covering;
20 if his heart hasn’t blessed me,
if he hasn’t been warmed with my
sheep’s fleece;
21 if I have lifted up my hand against the
fatherless, because I saw my help in the gate;
22 then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder blade,
and my arm be broken from the bone.
23 For calamity from God is a terror to me.
Because of his majesty, I can do nothing.
24 “If I have made gold my hope,
and have said to the fine gold, ‘You are
my confidence;’
25 If I have rejoiced because my wealth was
great, and because my hand had gotten
much;
26 if I have seen the sun when it shined,
or the moon moving in splendor,
27 and my heart has been secretly enticed,
and my hand threw a kiss from my
mouth;
28 this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges,
for I would have denied the God who
is above.
29 “If I have rejoiced at the destruction of
him who hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found
him
30 (I have certainly not allowed my mouth
to sin by asking his life with a curse);
31 if the men of my tent have not said,
‘Who can find one who has not been
filled with his meat?’
32 (the foreigner has not camped in the
street, but I have opened my doors to the
traveler);
33 if like Adam I have covered my transgressions,
by hiding my iniquity in my heart,
34 because I feared the great multitude,
and the contempt of families terrified
me,so that I kept silence, and didn’t go out
of the door—
35 oh that I had one to hear me!
Behold, here is my signature! Let the
Almighty answer me! Let the accuser write my indictment!
36 Surely I would carry it on my shoulder,
and I would bind it to me as a crown.
37 I would declare to him the number of my
steps. I would go near to him like a prince.
38 If my land cries out against me,
and its furrows weep together;
39 if I have eaten its fruits without money,
or have caused its owners to lose their
life,
40 let briers grow instead of wheat,
and stinkweed instead of barley.”
The words of Job are ended.