Chapter 31

  'I made a covenant with my eyes, How then should I look lustfully at a young woman?  

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  For what is the portion from God above, And the heritage from the Almighty on high?  

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  Is it not calamity to the unrighteous, And disaster to the workers of iniquity?  

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  Doesn't he see my ways, And number all my steps?  

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  'If I have walked with falsehood, And my foot has hurried to deceit  

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  (Let me be weighed in an even balance, That God may know my integrity);  

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  If my step has turned out of the way, If my heart walked after my eyes, If any defilement has stuck to my hands,  

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  Then let me sow, and let another eat; Yes, let the produce of my field be rooted out.  

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  'If my heart has been enticed to a woman, And I have laid wait at my neighbor's door;  

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  Then let my wife grind for another, And let others sleep with her.  

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  For that would be a heinous crime; Yes, it would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges:  

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  For it is a fire that consumes to destruction, And would root out all my increase.  

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  'If I have despised the cause of my man-servant Or of my maid-servant, When they contended with me;  

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  What then shall I do when God rises up? When he visits, what shall I answer him?  

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  Didn't he who made me in the womb make him? Didn't one fashion us in the womb?  

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  'If I have withheld the poor from their desire, Or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,  

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  Or have eaten my morsel alone, And the fatherless has not eaten of it  

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  (No, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, Her have I guided from my mother's womb);  

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  If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, Or that the needy had no covering;  

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  If his heart hasn't blessed me, If he hasn't been warmed with my sheep's fleece;  

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  If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, Because I saw my help in the gate:  

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  Then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder-blade, And my arm be broken from the bone.  

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  For calamity from God is a terror to me, By reason of his majesty I can do nothing.  

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  'If I have made gold my hope, And have said to the fine gold, 'You are my confidence;'  

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

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  If I have seen the sun when it shined, Or the moon moving in splendor,  

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  And my heart has been secretly enticed, My hand threw a kiss from my mouth:  

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  This also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges; For I should have denied the God who is above.  

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  'If I have rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me, Or lifted up myself when evil found him;  

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  (Yes, I have not allowed my mouth to sin By asking his life with a curse);  

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  If the men of my tent have not said, 'Who can find one who has not been filled with his meat?'  

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  (The sojourner has not lodged in the street; But I have opened my doors to the traveler);  

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  If like Adam I have covered my transgressions, By hiding my iniquity in my heart,  

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  Because I feared the great multitude, And the contempt of families terrified me, So that I kept silence, and didn't go out of the door--  

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  Oh that I had one to hear me! (Behold, here is my signature, let the Almighty answer me); Let the accuser write my indictment!  

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  Surely I would carry it on my shoulder; And I would bind it to me as a crown.  

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  I would declare to him the number of my steps. As a prince would I go near to him.  

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  If my land cries out against me, And the furrows of it weep together;  

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  If I have eaten the fruits of it without money, Or have caused the owners of it to lose their life:  

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  Let briars grow instead of wheat, And stinkweed instead of barley.' The words of Job are ended.  

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