Job 31
Jewish Publication Society of America Version (JPS1917)
1 I made a covenant with mine eyes; how then should I look upon a maid?
2 For what would be the portion of God from above, and the heritage of the Almighty from on high?
3 Is it not calamity to the unrighteous, and disaster to the workers of iniquity?
4 Doth not He see my ways, and count all my steps?
5 If I have walked with vanity, and my foot hath hasted to deceit —
6 Let me be weighed in a just balance, that God may know mine integrity —
7 If my step hath turned out of the way, and my heart walked after mine eyes, and if any spot hath cleaved to my hands;
8 Then let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let the produce of my field be rooted out.
9 If my heart have been enticed unto a woman, and I have lain in wait at my neighbour's door;
10 Then let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her.
11 For that were a heinous crime; yea, it were an iniquity to be punished by the judges.
12 For it is a fire that consumeth unto destruction, and would root out all mine increase.
13 If I did despise the cause of my man-servant, or of my maid-servant, when they contended with me —
14 What then shall I do when God riseth up? And when He remembereth, 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 aught that the poor desired, 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 Nay, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, and I have been her guide from my mother's womb.
19 If I have seen any wanderer in want of clothing, or that the needy had no 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 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 mine arm be broken from the bone.
23 For calamity from God was a terror to me, and by reason of His majesty I could do nothing.
24 If I have made gold my hope, and have said to the fine gold: 'Thou art my confidence';
25 If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because my 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, and my mouth hath kissed my hand;
28 This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judges; for I should have lied to God that is above.
29 If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, or exulted when evil found him —
30 Yea, I suffered not my mouth to sin by asking his life with a curse.
31 If the men of my tent said not: 'Who can find one that hath not been satisfied with his meat?'
32 The stranger did not lodge in the street; my doors I opened to the roadside.
33 If after the manner of men I covered my transgressions, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom —
34 Because I feared the great multitude, and the most contemptible among families terrified me, so that I kept silence, and went not out of the door.
35 Oh that I had one to hear me! — Lo, here is my signature, let the Almighty answer me — and that I had the indictment which mine adversary hath written!
36 Surely I would carry it upon my shoulder; I would bind it unto me as a crown.
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 out against me, and the furrows thereof weep together;
39 If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, or have caused the tillers thereof to be disappointed —
40 Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and noisome weeds instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.