ACV - Job - 31

31:1  I made a covenant with my eyes. How then should I look upon a virgin?

31:2  For what is the portion from God above, and the heritage from the Almighty on high?

31:3  Is it not calamity to the unrighteous, and disaster to the workers of iniquity?

31:4  Does he not see my ways, and number all my steps?

31:5  If I have walked with falsehood, and my foot has hastened to deceit

31:6  (let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know my integrity);

31:7  if my step has turned out of the way, and my heart walked after my eyes, and if any spot has clung to my hands,

31:8  then let me sow, and let another eat, yea, let the produce of my field be rooted out.

31:9  If my heart has been enticed to a woman, and I have laid wait at my neighbor's door,

31:10  then let my wife grind to another, and let others bow down upon her.

31:11  For that is a heinous crime, yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges.

31:12  For it is a fire that consumes to destruction, and would root out all my increase.

31:13  If I have despised the case of my man-servant or of my maid-servant when they contended with me,

31:14  what then shall I do when God rises up? And when he visits, what shall I answer him?

31:15  Did not he who 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 alone, and the fatherless has not eaten of it

31:18  (no, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, and her I have guided from my mother's womb);

31:19  if I have seen any perish for lack of clothing, or that the needy had no covering;

31:20  if his loins have not blessed me, and if he has not been warmed with the fleece of my sheep;

31:21  if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, because I saw my help in the gate,

31:22  then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder-blade, and my arm be broken from the bone.

31:23  For calamity from God is a terror to me, and I can do nothing because of his majesty.

31:24  If I have made gold my hope, and have said to the fine gold, Thou are my confidence;

31:25  if I have rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because my hand had gotten much;

31:26  if I have beheld the sun when it shone, or the moon walking in brightness,

31:27  and my heart has been secretly enticed, and my mouth has kissed my hand

31:28  (this also is an iniquity to be punished by the judges, for I would have denied the God that is above);

31:29  if I have rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him

31:30  (yea, I have not allowed my mouth to sin by asking his life with a curse);

31:31  if the men of my tent have not said, Who can find one who has not been filled with his food?

31:32  (the sojourner has not lodged in the street, but I have opened my doors to the traveler);

31:33  if like Adam I have covered my transgressions by hiding my iniquity in my bosom

31:34  because I feared the great multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me so that I kept silence, and did not go out of the door-

31:35  O that I had someone to hear me (Lo, here is my signature, let the Almighty answer me), and that I had the indictment which my adversary has written!

31:36  Surely I would carry it upon my shoulder. I would bind it to me as a crown.

31:37  I would declare to him the number of my steps. I would go near to him as a prince.

31:38  If my land cries out against me, and the furrows of it weep together;

31:39  if I have eaten the fruits of it without money, or have caused the owners of it to lose their lives,

31:40  let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.