Chapter
Job 31

Book of Job - Chapter 31

Job 31:1

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

Job 31:2

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

Job 31:3

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

Job 31:4

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

Job 31:5

"If I have walked with falsehood, and my foot has hurried to deceit

Job 31:6

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

Job 31:7

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

Job 31:8

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

Job 31:9

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

Job 31:10

then let my wife grind for another, and let others sleep with her.

Job 31:11

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

Job 31:12

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

Job 31:13

"If I have despised the cause of my male servant or of my female servant, when they contended with me;

Job 31:14

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

Job 31:15

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

Job 31:16

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

Job 31:17

or have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless has not eaten of it

Job 31:18

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

Job 31:19

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

Job 31:20

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

Job 31:21

if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, because I saw my help in the gate,

Job 31:22

then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder blade, and my arm be broken from the bone.

Job 31:23

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

Job 31:24

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

Job 31:25

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

Job 31:26

if I have seen the sun when it shined, or the moon moving in splendor,

Job 31:27

and my heart has been secretly enticed, and my hand threw a kiss from my mouth,

Job 31:28

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

Job 31:29

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

Job 31:30

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

Job 31:31

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

Job 31:32

(the foreigner has not lodged in the street, but I have opened my doors to the traveler);

Job 31:33

if like Adam I have covered my transgressions, by hiding my iniquity in my heart,

Job 31:34

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--

Job 31:35

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

Job 31:36

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

Job 31:37

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

Job 31:38

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

Job 31:39

if I have eaten its fruits without money, or have caused its owners to lose their life,

Job 31:40

let briars grow instead of wheat, and stinkweed instead of barley." The words of Job are ended.

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