Job 31

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¹I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then should I look with desire on a virgin?

²For what is the portion from God above, the inheritance from the Almighty on high?

³I used to think that calamity is for unrighteous people, and that disaster is for doers of wickedness.

⁴Does not God see my ways and count all my steps?

⁵If I have walked with falsehood, if my foot has hurried to deceit,

⁶let me be weighed in an even balance so that God will know my integrity.

⁷If my step has turned aside from the way, if my heart has gone after my eyes, if any spot has stuck to my hands,

⁸then let me sow, and let another eat, and let my crops be uprooted.

⁹If my heart has been deceived by a woman, if I have lain in wait at my neighbor's door,

¹⁰then let my wife grind grain for another, and let others bow down on her.

¹¹For that would be a terrible crime; indeed, it would be a crime to be punished by judges.

¹²For that is a fire that consumes as far as Abaddon, and it would burn all my harvest to the root.

¹³If I ignored the plea for justice from my male or female servant when they argued with me,

¹⁴what then would I do when God rises up to accuse me? When he comes to judge me, how would I answer him?

¹⁵Did the one who made me in the womb not make them also? Did not the same one mold us all in the womb?

¹⁶If I have withheld poor people from their desire, or if I have caused the eyes of the widow to grow dim from crying,

¹⁷or if I have eaten my morsel alone and not allowed those without fathers to eat it also—

¹⁸because from my youth the orphan grew up with me as with a father, and I have guided his mother, a widow, from my own mother's womb.

¹⁹If I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing, or if I have seen that a needy man had no clothing;

²⁰if his heart has not blessed me because he has not been warmed with the wool of my sheep,

²¹if I have lifted up my hand against fatherless people because I saw my support in the city gate, then bring charges against me!

²²If I have done these things, then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder blade, and let my arm be broken from its joint.

²³For I dreaded destruction from God; because of his majesty, I was not able to do those things.

²⁴If I have made gold my hope, and if I have said to fine gold, 'You are what I am confident in';

²⁵if I have rejoiced because my wealth was great, because my hand had gotten many possessions, then bring charges against me!

²⁶If I have seen the sun when it shone, or the moon walking in its brightness,

²⁷and if my heart has been secretly attracted, so that my mouth has kissed my hand in worship of them—

²⁸this also would be a crime to be punished by judges, for I would have denied the God who is above.

²⁹If I have rejoiced at the destruction of anyone who hated me or congratulated myself when disaster overtook him, then bring charges against me!

³⁰Indeed, I have not even allowed my mouth to sin by asking for his life with a curse.

³¹If the men of my tent have never said, 'Who can find one who has not been filled with Job's food?'

³²(even the foreigner has never had to stay in the city square, because I have always opened my doors to the traveler), and if that is not so, then bring charges against me!

³³If, like mankind, I have hidden my sins by hiding my guilt inside my tunic

³⁴(because I feared the great multitude, because the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silent and would not go outside), then bring charges against me!

³⁵Oh, if only I had someone to hear me! See, here is my signature; let the Almighty answer me! If only I had the indictment that my opponent has written!

³⁶Surely I would carry it openly on my shoulder; I would put it on like a crown.

³⁷I would declare to him an accounting for my steps; as a confident prince I would go up to him.

³⁸If my land ever cries out against me, and its furrows weep together,

³⁹if I have eaten its harvest without paying for it or have caused its owners to lose their lives,

⁴⁰then let thorns grow instead of wheat and weeds instead of barley.” The words of Job are finished.