JobChapter 31

Tap any verse to comment or suggest a better wording.

¹"I have made a covenant with my eyes.
So how could I look with desire at a young woman? ²For what share comes from God above?
What gift to own comes from the Almighty on high? ³Doesn't disaster come to people who are not fair?
Doesn't trouble come to those who do wrong? ⁴Doesn't God see the way I live?
Doesn't he count every step I take? ⁵If I have lived a lie,
or if my feet have hurried to trick others, ⁶then let God weigh me on honest scales.
Then he will know that I am innocent. ⁷If my steps have turned away from the path,
if my heart has followed what my eyes wanted,
or if anything unclean has stuck to my hands, ⁸then let someone else eat what I have planted.
Let my crops be pulled up by the roots. ⁹If my heart has been drawn to my neighbor's wife,
or if I have waited at his door, ¹⁰then let my own wife grind grain for another man.
Let other men sleep with her. ¹¹For that would be a terrible crime.
It would be a sin that must be judged. ¹²For it is a fire that burns all the way down to Abaddon.
It would wipe out my whole harvest.a ¹³If I have refused to be fair to my male or female servant
when they brought a complaint against me, ¹⁴then what will I do when God rises up to judge?
What will I say when he asks me to explain? ¹⁵Didn't the God who made me in my mother's womb make them too?
Didn't the same God form all of us in the womb? ¹⁶If I have said no to what the poor wanted,
or let a widow's eyes grow tired from waiting, ¹⁷if I have eaten my bread by myself
and not shared it with the orphan- ¹⁸even though from the time I was young, I raised the orphan like a father would,
and from my birth I guided the widow- ¹⁹if I have seen anyone dying because he had no clothes,
or a needy man with no coat, ²⁰if his heart has not blessed me
for warming him with wool from my sheep, ²¹if I have raised my hand against the orphan
because I saw that I had support at the city gate, ²²then let my arm fall off my shoulder.
Let it be torn from its joint. ²³For I am terrified of disaster from God.
I could never stand against his glory. ²⁴If I have put my trust in gold,
or said to pure gold, 'You keep me safe,' ²⁵if I have been glad because I was very rich,
because my hand had gained so much, ²⁶if I have looked at the sun as it shined
or at the moon as it moved in its beauty, ²⁷so that my heart was secretly drawn away
and my hand threw a kiss from my mouth, ²⁸this would also be a sin that must be judged,
for I would have denied God on high. ²⁹If I have been happy when my enemy was ruined,
or glad when trouble came to him- ³⁰No, I have not let my mouth sin
by putting a curse on his life. ³¹if the men of my house have not said,
'Is there anyone who has not eaten all he wants?'- ³²No stranger ever had to sleep in the street.
My door was always open to travelers. ³³if I have hidden my sins like Adam
by hiding my guilt in my heart ³⁴because I was very afraid of the crowds,
and the families looking down on me scared me,
so that I kept quiet and would not go outside- ³⁵(Oh, if only I had someone to hear me!
Here is my signature.
Let the Almighty answer me.
Let the one who accuses me write down his charges. ³⁶I would surely carry them on my shoulder.
I would wear them like a crown. ³⁷I would tell God about every step I have taken.
I would come near him like a prince.) ³⁸If my land cries out against me
and its plowed rows weep together, ³⁹if I have eaten its crops without paying for them,
or crushed the spirit of the people who farm it, ⁴⁰then let thorns grow instead of wheat.
Let stinking weeds grow instead of barley."
This is the end of the words of Job.