JPS - Job - 31

31:1  I made a covenant with mine eyes; how then should I look upon a maid?

31:2  For what would be the portion of G-d from above, and the heritage of the Almighty from on high?

31:3  Is it not calamity to the unrighteous, and disaster 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, and my foot hath hasted to deceit--

31:6  Let me be weighed in a just balance, that G-d may know mine integrity--

31:7  If my step hath turned out of the way, and my heart walked after mine eyes, and if any spot hath cleaved 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 have been enticed unto a woman, and I have lain in 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 that were a heinous crime; yea, it were an iniquity to be punished by the judges.

31:12  For it is a fire that consumeth unto destruction, and would root out all mine increase.

31:13  If I did despise the cause of my man-servant, or of my maid-servant, when they contended with me--

31:14  What then shall I do when G-d riseth up? And when He remembereth, 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 aught that the poor desired, 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  Nay, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, and I have been her guide from my mother's womb.

31:19  If I have seen any wanderer in want of clothing, or that the needy had no 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, because I saw my help in the gate;

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

31:23  For calamity from G-d was a terror to me, and by reason of His majesty I could do nothing.

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

31:25  If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because my 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, and my mouth hath kissed my hand;

31:28  This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judges; for I should have lied to G-d that is above.

31:29  If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, or exulted when evil found him--

31:30  Yea, I suffered not my mouth to sin by asking his life with a curse.

31:31  If the men of my tent said not: 'Who can find one that hath not been satisfied with his meat?'

31:32  The stranger did not lodge in the street; my doors I opened to the roadside.

31:33  If after the manner of men I covered my transgressions, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom--

31:34  Because I feared the great multitude, and the most contemptible among families terrified me, so that I kept silence, and went not out of the door.

31:35  Oh that I had one to hear me! --Lo, here is my signature, let the Almighty answer me--and that I had the indictment which mine adversary hath written!

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

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 out against me, and the furrows thereof weep together;

31:39  If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, or have caused the tillers thereof to be disappointed--

31:40  Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and noisome weeds instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.