31:1 “I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl.
31:2 For what is man’s lot from God above, his heritage from the Almighty on high?
31:3 Is it not ruin for the wicked, disaster for those who do wrong?
31:4 Does he not see my ways and count my every step?
31:5 “If I have walked in falsehood or my foot has hurried after deceit–
31:6 let God weigh me in honest scales and he will know that I am blameless–
31:7 if my steps have turned from the path, if my heart has been led by my eyes, or if my hands have been defiled,
31:8 then may others eat what I have sown, and may my crops be uprooted.
31:9 “If my heart has been enticed by a woman, or if I have lurked at my neighbor’s door,
31:10 then may my wife grind another man’s grain, and may other men sleep with her.
31:11 For that would have been shameful, a sin to be judged.
31:12 It is a fire that burns to Destruction; it would have uprooted my harvest.
31:13 “If I have denied justice to my menservants and maidservants when they had a grievance against me,
31:14 what will I do when God confronts me? What will I answer when called to account?
31:15 Did not he who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same one form us both within our mothers?
31:16 “If I have denied the desires of the poor or let the eyes of the widow grow weary,
31:17 if I have kept my bread to myself, not sharing it with the fatherless–
31:18 but from my youth I reared him as would a father, and from my birth I guided the widow–
31:19 if I have seen anyone perishing for lack of clothing, or a needy man without a garment,
31:20 and his heart did not bless me for warming him with the fleece from my sheep,
31:21 if I have raised my hand against the fatherless, knowing that I had influence in court,
31:22 then let my arm fall from the shoulder, let it be broken off at the joint.
31:23 For I dreaded destruction from God, and for fear of his splendor I could not do such things.
31:24 “If I have put my trust in gold or said to pure gold, ‘You are my security,’
31:25 if I have rejoiced over my great wealth, the fortune my hands had gained,
31:26 if I have regarded the sun in its radiance or the moon moving in splendor,
31:27 so that my heart was secretly enticed and my hand offered them a kiss of homage,
31:28 then these also would be sins to be judged, for I would have been unfaithful to God on high.
31:29 “If I have rejoiced at my enemy’s misfortune or gloated over the trouble that came to him–
31:30 I have not allowed my mouth to sin by invoking a curse against his life–
31:31 if the men of my household have never said, ‘Who has not had his fill of Job’s meat?’–
31:32 but no stranger had to spend the night in the street, for my door was always open to the traveler–
31:33 if I have concealed my sin as men do, by hiding my guilt in my heart
31:34 because I so feared the crowd and so dreaded the contempt of the clans that I kept silent and would not go outside
31:35 (“Oh, that I had someone to hear me! I sign now my defense–let the Almighty answer me; let my accuser put his indictment in writing.
31:36 Surely I would wear it on my shoulder, I would put it on like a crown.
31:37 I would give him an account of my every step; like a prince I would approach him.)–
31:38 “if my land cries out against me and all its furrows are wet with tears,
31:39 if I have devoured its yield without payment or broken the spirit of its tenants,
31:40 then let briers come up instead of wheat and weeds instead of barley.” The words of Job are ended.