Chapter 31

  I made a covenant with mine eyes; and how should I fix my regard upon a maid?  

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  For what would have been [my] portion of +God from above, and what the heritage of the Almighty from on high?  

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  Is not calamity for the unrighteous? and misfortune for the workers of iniquity?  

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  Doth not he see my ways, and number all my steps?  

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  If I have walked with falsehood, and my foot hath hasted to deceit,  

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  (Let me be weighed in an even balance, and +God will take knowledge of my blamelessness;)  

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  If my step have turned out of the way, and my heart followed mine eyes, and if any blot cleaveth to my hands;  

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  Let me sow, and another eat; and let mine offspring be rooted out.  

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  If my heart have been enticed unto a woman, so that I laid wait at my neighbour's door,  

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  Let my wife grind for another, and let others bow down upon her.  

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  For this is an infamy; yea, it is an iniquity [to be judged by] the judges:  

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  For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase.  

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  If I have despised the cause of my bondman or of my bondmaid, when they contended with me,  

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  What then should I do when ùGod riseth up? and if he visited, what should I answer him?  

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  Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not One fashion us in the womb?  

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  If I have withheld the poor from [their] desire, or caused the eyes of the widow to fail;  

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  Or have eaten my morsel alone, so that the fatherless ate not thereof,  

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  (For from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, and I have guided the [widow] from my mother's womb;)  

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  If I have seen any perishing for want of clothing, or any needy without covering;  

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  If his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my lambs;  

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  If I have lifted up my hand against an orphan, because I saw my help in the gate:  

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  [Then] let my shoulder fall from the shoulder-blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone!  

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  For calamity from ùGod was a terror to me, and by reason of his excellency I was powerless.  

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  If I have made gold my hope, or said to the fine gold, My confidence!  

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  If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because my hand had gotten much;  

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  If I beheld the sun when it shone, or the moon walking in brightness,  

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  And my heart have been secretly enticed, so that my mouth kissed my hand:  

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  This also would be an iniquity for the judge, for I should have denied the ùGod who is above.  

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  If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, and exulted when evil befell him;  

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  (Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by asking his life with a curse;)  

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  If the men of my tent said not, Who shall find one that hath not been satisfied with his meat? --  

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  The stranger did not lodge without; I opened my doors to the pathway.  

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  If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom,  

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  Because I feared the great multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silence, and went not out of the door, ...  

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  Oh that I had one to hear me! Behold my signature: let the Almighty answer me! And let mine opponent write an accusation!  

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  Would I not take it upon my shoulder? I would bind it on to me [as] a crown;  

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  I would declare unto him the number of my steps; as a prince would I come near to him.  

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  If my land cry out against me, and its furrows weep together;  

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  If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, and have tormented to death the souls of its owners:  

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  Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and tares instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.  

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