CPDV - Job - 31

31:1  I reached an agreement with my eyes, that I would not so much as think about a virgin.

31:2  For what portion should God from above hold for me, and what inheritance should the Almighty from on high keep?

31:3  Is not destruction held for the wicked and repudiation kept for those who work injustice?

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

31:5  If I have walked in vanity, or if my foot has hurried towards deceitfulness,

31:6  let him weigh me in a just balance, and let God know my simplicity.

31:7  If my steps have turned aside from the way, or if my heart has followed my eyes, or if a blemish has clung to my hands,

31:8  then may I sow, and let another consume, and let my offspring be eradicated.

31:9  If my heart has been deceived over a woman, or if I have waited in ambush at my friend’s door,

31:10  then let my wife be the harlot of another, and let other men lean over her.

31:11  For this is a crime and a very great injustice.

31:12  It is a fire devouring all the way to perdition, and it roots out all that springs forth.

31:13  If I have despised being subject to judgment with my servant or my maid, when they had any complaint against me,

31:14  then what will I do when God rises to judge, and, when he inquires, how will I respond to him?

31:15  Is not he who created me in the womb, also he who labored to make him? And did not one and the same form me in the womb?

31:16  If I have denied the poor what they wanted and have made the eyes of the widow wait;

31:17  if I have eaten my morsel of food alone, while orphans have not eaten from it;

31:18  (for from my infancy mercy grew with me, and it came out with me from my mother’s womb;)

31:19  if I have looked down on him who was perishing because he had no clothing and the poor without any covering,

31:20  if his sides 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 over an orphan, even when it might seem to me that I have the advantage over him at the gate;

31:22  then may my shoulder fall from its joint, and may my arm, with all its bones, be broken.

31:23  For I have always feared God, like waves flowing over me, whose weight I was unable to bear.

31:24  If I have considered gold to be my strength, or if I have called purified gold ‘my Trust;’

31:25  if I have rejoiced over my great success, and over the many things my hand has obtained;

31:26  if I gazed upon the sun when it shined and the moon advancing brightly,

31:27  so that my heart rejoiced in secret and I kissed my hand with my mouth,

31:28  which is a very great iniquity and a denial against the most high God;

31:29  if I have been glad at the ruin of him who hated me and have exulted that evil found him,

31:30  for I have not been given my throat to sin by asking for a curse on his soul;

31:31  if the men around my tabernacle have not said: “He might give us some of his food, so that we will be filled,”

31:32  for the foreigner did not remain at the door, my door was open to the traveler;

31:33  if, as man does, I have hidden my sin and have concealed my iniquity in my bosom;

31:34  if I became frightened by an excessive crowd, and the disrespect of close relatives alarmed me, so that I would much rather have remained silent or have gone out the door;

31:35  then, would he grant me a hearing, so that the Almighty would listen to my desire, and he who judges would himself write a book,

31:36  which I would then carry on my shoulder and wrap around me like a crown?

31:37  With each of my steps, I would pronounce and offer it, as if to a prince.

31:38  So, if my land cries out against me, and if its furrows weep with it,

31:39  if I have used its fruits for nothing but money and have afflicted the souls of its tillers,

31:40  then, may thistles spring forth for me instead of grain, and thorns instead of barley. (This ended the words of Job.)