31:1 | | I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid? |
31:2 | | For what portion of God is there from above? and what inheritance of the Almighty from on high? |
31:3 | | Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment 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, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit; |
31:6 | | Let me be weighed in an even balance that God may know mine integrity. |
31:7 | | If my step hath turned out of the way, and mine heart walked after mine eyes, and if any blot hath cleaved to mine hands; |
31:8 | | Then let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted out. |
31:9 | | If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, or if I have laid 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 this is an heinous crime; yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges. |
31:12 | | For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase. |
31:13 | | If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, when they contended with me; |
31:14 | | What then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, 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 the poor from their desire, 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 | | (For from my youth he was brought up with me, as with a father, and I have guided her from my mother's womb;) |
31:19 | | If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without 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, when I saw my help in the gate: |
31:22 | | Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone. |
31:23 | | For destruction from God was a terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure. |
31:24 | | If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence; |
31:25 | | If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because mine 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, or my mouth hath kissed my hand: |
31:28 | | This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should have denied the God that is above. |
31:29 | | If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him: |
31:30 | | Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his soul. |
31:31 | | If the men of my tabernacle said not, Oh that we had of his flesh! we cannot be satisfied. |
31:32 | | The stranger did not lodge in the street: but I opened my doors to the traveller. |
31:33 | | If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom: |
31:34 | | Did I fear a great multitude, or did the contempt of families terrify me, that I kept silence, and went not out of the door? |
31:35 | | Oh that one would hear me! behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, and that mine adversary had written a book. |
31:36 | | Surely I would take it upon my shoulder, and bind it as a crown to me. |
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 against me, or that the furrows likewise thereof complain; |
31:39 | | If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life: |
31:40 | | Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended. |