Job Chapter 31 (Index)

001  I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?

002  For what portion of God is there from above? and what inheritance of the Almighty from on high?

003  Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity?

004  Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps?

005  If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit;

006  Let me be weighed in an even balance that God may know mine integrity.

007  If my step hath turned out of the way, and mine heart walked after mine eyes, and if any blot hath cleaved to mine hands;

008  Then let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted out.

009  If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at my neighbour's door;

010  Then let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her.

011  For this is an heinous crime; yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges.

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

013  If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, when they contended with me;

014  What then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him?

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

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

017  Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof;

018  (For from my youth he was brought up with me, as with a father, and I have guided her from my mother's womb;)

019  If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering;

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

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

022  Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone.

023  For destruction from God was a terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure.

024  If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence;

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

026  If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness;

027  And my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand:

028  This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should have denied the God that is above.

029  If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him:

030  Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his soul.

031  If the men of my tabernacle said not, Oh that we had of his flesh! we cannot be satisfied.

032  The stranger did not lodge in the street: but I opened my doors to the traveller.

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

034  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?

035  Oh that one would hear me! behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, and that mine adversary had written a book.

036  Surely I would take it upon my shoulder, and bind it as a crown to me.

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

038  If my land cry against me, or that the furrows likewise thereof complain;

039  If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life:

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