Job 31

¹ “ I made a covenant with my eyes;

² For what is the portion from God above,

³ Is it not calamity to the unrighteous,

⁴ Doesn’t he see my ways,

⁵ “If I have walked with falsehood,

⁶ (let me be weighed in an even balance,

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,

¹⁰ then let my wife grind for another,

¹¹ For that would be a heinous crime.

¹² for it is a fire that consumes to destruction,

¹³ “If I have despised the cause of my male servant

¹⁴ what then will I do when God rises up?

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,

¹⁷ or have eaten my morsel alone,

¹⁸ (no, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father,

¹⁹ if I have seen any perish for want of clothing,

²⁰ if his heart hasn’t blessed me,

²¹ if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless,

²² then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder blade,

²³ For calamity from God is a terror to me.

²⁴ “ If I have made gold my hope,

²⁵ If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great,

²⁶ if I have seen the sun when it shined,

²⁷ and my heart has been secretly enticed,

²⁸ this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges,

²⁹ “ If I have rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me,

³⁰ ( I have certainly not allowed my mouth to sin

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,

³³ if like Adam I have covered my transgressions,

³⁴ because I feared the great multitude,

³⁵ oh that I had one to hear me!

³⁶ Surely I would carry it on my shoulder,

³⁷ I would declare to him the number of my steps.

³⁸ If my land cries out against me,

³⁹ if I have eaten its fruits without money,

⁴⁰ let briers grow instead of wheat,