Job
Chapter 31
- 31:1
- ¶ I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?
- 31:2
- For what portion of God is there from above? and what inheritance of the Almighty from on high?
- 31:3
- Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity?
- 31:4
- Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps?
- 31:5
- If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit;
- 31:6
- Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine integrity.
- 31:7
- 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;
- 31:8
- Then let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted out.
- 31:9
- If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at my neighbour's door;
- 31:10
- Then let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her.
- 31:11
- For this is an heinous crime; yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges.
- 31:12
- For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase.
- 31:13
- If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, when they contended with me;
- 31:14
- What then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him?
- 31:15
- Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb?
- 31:16
- If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail;
- 31:17
- Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof;
- 31:18
- (For from my youth he was brought up with me, as with a father, and I have guided her from my mother's womb;)
- 31:19
- If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering;
- 31:20
- If his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep;
- 31:21
- If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate:
- 31:22
- Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone.
- 31:23
- For destruction from God was a terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure.
- 31:24
- If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence;
- 31:25
- If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because mine hand had gotten much;
- 31:26
- If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness;
- 31:27
- And my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand:
- 31:28
- This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should have denied the God that is above.
- 31:29
- If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him:
- 31:30
- Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his soul.
- 31:31
- If the men of my tabernacle said not, Oh that we had of his flesh! we cannot be satisfied.
- 31:32
- The stranger did not lodge in the street: but I opened my doors to the traveller.
- 31:33
- If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom:
- 31:34
- 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?
- 31:35
- Oh that one would hear me! behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, and that mine adversary had written a book.
- 31:36
- Surely I would take it upon my shoulder, and bind it as a crown to me.
- 31:37
- I would declare unto him the number of my steps; as a prince would I go near unto him.
- 31:38
- If my land cry against me, or that the furrows likewise thereof complain;
- 31:39
- If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life:
- 31:40
- Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.