Job 31

New International Version

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

New International Version