Job 31
1I MADE a covenant with mine eyes, that I would not gaze on a virgin:
2yet what portion hath God dealt out from above?
3And what, alas, the lasting portion from on high? ’Destruction is for the wicked and banishment for transgressors.’
4Why will He not behold my way and number all my steps?
5Have I walked with scoffers or hath my foot hastened to deceit?
6For I have been weighed in a just balance; and the Lord knoweth mine integrity.
7If my foot hath deviated from the way or my heart gone astray after mine eyes; or if with my hands I have touched bribes:
8may I sow and others eat; and let me have no root in the land.
9If my heart hath gone after another man’s wife, or if I have lain in wait at her gates;
10let my wife gratify another, and mine infant children be dishonoured.
11For the defiling of another man’s wife exciteth a fury of wrath not to be restrained.
12For it is a fire burning in all the limbs; which will not go out, till it hath utterly consumed.
13If I have slighted the cause of my man servant or maid servant when they had a controversy with me,
14what shall I do when the Lord maketh inquest? And when He visiteth, what answer shall I make?
15Was not I formed in the womb as they were? And were we not alike fashioned in the belly?
16Far from depriving the poor of what they had, or causing the heart of a widow to fail;
17if I have eaten my morsel alone, and have not shared it with the orphan;
18(for from my youth I as a father nourished them, and was their guide from my mother’s womb)
19If I have seen the naked perishing and have not clothed them;
20and if the poor have not blessed me, and their shoulders been warmed with the fleece of my lambs;
21If I have raised a hand against the fatherless, because I had around me greater support:
22may my shoulder bone be dislocated, and my arm broken at the elbow.
23For the fear of the Lord restrained me, and the burden of that I could not endure.
24If I have made gold my measure, or placed my confidence in precious stones:
25or if I have exulted because my wealth was great, or laid my hand on what was not counted out to me:
26(do we not see the refulgent sun sometimes eclipsed, and the moon continually changing? for it is not in them to be steadfast):
27or if then my heart hath been secretly enticed, and I have laid my hand on my mouth and kissed it;
28let this be reckoned to me as the greatest transgression, that I have lied in the presence of the Lord, the Most High.
29If I have rejoiced at the downfall of mine enemies, and my heart hath said, Aha!
30Let mine ear hear myself cursed, and let me be a by-word among the people, when I am afflicted.
31If my maid servants have often said, O that we had some of his flesh-meat to eat! while I was living luxuriously:
32(indeed the stranger lodged not in the street, and my door was open to every comer:)
33If when I sinned inadvertently, I concealed my sin;
34for I was not so awed by the multitude as not to mention it before them—(now if I had suffered a poor man to go from my door with an empty pocket,
35who could have heard me with patience?). And if I had not feared the hand of the Lord
36I would have put on my shoulders the writing which I had against anyone, and have acknowledged it as a crown:
37But if I did not tear it in pieces and give it up, without taking any thing from the debtor:
38if ever my ground hath cried out against me, and the furrows thereof joined in the complaint:
39if I have eaten alone the strength thereof without money, and by rapine caused the heart of the owner of the soil to grieve:
40let nettles spring up for me instead of wheat, and bramble bushes instead of barley.