Job - Chapter 31 | English Standard Version

  • 1. "I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?
  • 2. What would be my portion from God above and my heritage from the Almighty on high?
  • 3. Is not calamity for the unrighteous, and disaster for the workers of iniquity?
  • 4. Does not he see my ways and number all my steps?
  • 5. "If I have walked with falsehood and my foot has hastened to deceit;
  • 6. (Let me be weighed in a just balance, and let God know my integrity!)
  • 7. if my step has turned aside from the way and my heart has gone after my eyes, and if any spot has stuck to my hands,
  • 8. then let me sow, and another eat, and let what grows for me be rooted out.
  • 9. "If my heart has been enticed toward a woman, and I have lain in wait at my neighbor's door,
  • 10. then let my wife grind for another, and let others bow down on her.
  • 11. For that would be a heinous crime; that would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges;
  • 12. for that would be a fire that consumes as far as Abaddon, and it would burn to the root all my increase.
  • 13. "If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant, when they brought a complaint against me,
  • 14. what then shall I do when God rises up? When he makes inquiry, what shall I answer him?
  • 15. Did not he who made me in the womb make him? And did not one fashion us in the womb?
  • 16. "If I have withheld anything that the poor desired, 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. (for from my youth the fatherless grew up with me as with a father, and from my mother's womb I guided the widow),
  • 19. if I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing, or the needy without covering,
  • 20. if his body has not blessed me, and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep,
  • 21. if I have raised my hand against the fatherless, because I saw my help in the gate,
  • 22. then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder, and let my arm be broken from its socket.
  • 23. For I was in terror of calamity from God, and I could not have faced his majesty.
  • 24. "If I have made gold my trust or called fine gold my confidence,
  • 25. if I have rejoiced because my wealth was abundant or because my hand had found much,
  • 26. if I have looked at the sun when it shone, or the moon moving in splendor,
  • 27. and my heart has been secretly enticed, and my mouth has kissed my hand,
  • 28. this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges, for I would have been false to God above.
  • 29. "If I have rejoiced at the ruin of him who hated me, or exulted when evil overtook him
  • 30. (I have not let my mouth sin by asking for his life with a curse),
  • 31. if the men of my tent have not said, 'Who is there that has not been filled with his meat?'
  • 32. (the sojourner has not lodged in the street; I have opened my doors to the traveler),
  • 33. if I have concealed my transgressions as others do by hiding my iniquity in my bosom,
  • 34. because I stood in great fear of the multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silence, and did not go out of doors--
  • 35. Oh, that I had one to hear me! (Here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me!) Oh, that I had the indictment written by my adversary!
  • 36. Surely I would carry it on my shoulder; I would bind it on me as a crown;
  • 37. I would give him an account of all my steps; like a prince I would approach him.
  • 38. "If my land has cried out against me and its furrows have wept together,
  • 39. if I have eaten its yield without payment and made its owners breathe their last,
  • 40. let thorns grow instead of wheat, and foul weeds instead of barley." The words of Job are ended.
أعلى