Job 31

1 I made a covenant with mine eyes; Why then should I think upon a maid? 2 For what portion of God is there from above? And what inheritance of the Almighty from on high? 3 Is not destruction to the wicked? And a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity? 4 Doth not he see my ways, And count all my steps? 5 If I have walked with vanity, Or if my foot hath hasted to deceit; 6 Let me be weighed in an even balance, That God may know mine integrity. 7 If my step hath turned out of the way, And mine heart walked after mine eyes, And if any blot hath cleaved to my hands; 8 Then let me sow, and let another eat; Yea, let my offspring be rooted out. 9 If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, Or if I have laid wait at my neighbour’s door; 10 Then let my wife grind unto another, And let others bow down upon her. 11 For this is a heinous crime; Yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges. 12 For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, And would root out all mine increase. 13 If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, When they contended with me; 14 What then shall I do when God riseth up? And when he visiteth, what shall I answer him? 15 Did not he that made me in the womb make him? And did not 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 myself alone, And the fatherless hath not eaten thereof; 18 (For from my youth he was brought up with me, as with a father, And I have guided her from my mother’s womb;) 19 If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, Or any poor without covering; 20 If his loins have not blessed me, And if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep; 21 If I have lift up my hand against the fatherless, When I saw my help in the gate: 22 Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, And mine arm be broken from the bone. 23 For destruction from God was a terror to me, And by reason of his highness I could not endure. 24 If I have made gold my hope, Or have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence; 25 If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, And because mine hand had gotten much; 26 If I beheld the sun when it shined, Or the moon walking in brightness; 27 And my heart hath been secretly enticed, Or my mouth hath kissed my hand: 28 This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: For I should have denied the God that is above. 29 If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, Or lift up myself when evil found him: 30 (Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin By wishing a curse to his soul.) 31 If the men of my tabernacle said not, O that we had of his flesh! we cannot be satisfied. 32 The stranger did not lodge in the street: But I opened my doors to the traveller. 33 If I covered my transgressions as Adam, By hiding mine iniquity in my bosom: 34 Did I fear a great multitude, Or did the contempt of families terrify me, That I kept silence, and went not out of the door? 35 O that one would hear me! Behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, And that mine adversary had written a book. 36 Surely I would take it upon my shoulder, And bind it as a crown to me. 37 I would declare unto him the number of my steps; As a prince would I go near unto him. 38 If my land cry against me, Or that the furrows likewise thereof complain; 39 If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, Or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life: 40 Let thistles grow instead of wheat, And cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.