The text

Job 31

JobWEB

All books Search

Job 31:1WEB

“I made a covenant with my eyes; how then should I look lustfully at a young woman?

Job 31:2WEB

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

Job 31:3WEB

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

Job 31:4WEB

Doesn’t he see my ways, and count all my steps?

Job 31:5WEB

“If I have walked with falsehood, and my foot has hurried to deceit

Job 31:6WEB

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

Job 31:7WEB

if my step has turned out of the way, if my heart walked after my eyes, if any defilement has stuck to my hands,

Job 31:8WEB

then let me sow, and let another eat. Yes, let the produce of my field be rooted out.

Job 31:9WEB

“If my heart has been enticed to a woman, and I have laid wait at my neighbor’s door,

Job 31:10WEB

then let my wife grind for another, and let others sleep with her.

Job 31:11WEB

For that would be a heinous crime. Yes, it would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges,

Job 31:12WEB

for it is a fire that consumes to destruction, and would root out all my increase.

Job 31:13WEB

“If I have despised the cause of my male servant or of my female servant, when they contended with me,

Job 31:14WEB

what then will I do when God rises up? When he visits, what will I answer him?

Job 31:15WEB

Didn’t he who made me in the womb make him? Didn’t one fashion us in the womb?

Job 31:16WEB

“If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,

Job 31:17WEB

or have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless has not eaten of it

Job 31:18WEB

(no, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, I have guided her from my mother’s womb);

Job 31:19WEB

if I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or that the needy had no covering;

Job 31:20WEB

if his heart hasn’t blessed me, if he hasn’t been warmed with my sheep’s fleece;

Job 31:21WEB

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

Job 31:22WEB

then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder blade, and my arm be broken from the bone.

Job 31:23WEB

For calamity from God is a terror to me. Because of his majesty, I can do nothing.

Job 31:24WEB

“If I have made gold my hope, and have said to the fine gold, ‘You are my confidence;’

Job 31:25WEB

If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because my hand had gotten much;

Job 31:26WEB

if I have seen the sun when it shined, or the moon moving in splendor,

Job 31:27WEB

and my heart has been secretly enticed, and my hand threw a kiss from my mouth;

Job 31:28WEB

this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges, for I would have denied the God who is above.

Job 31:29WEB

“If I have rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him

Job 31:30WEB

(I have certainly not allowed my mouth to sin by asking his life with a curse);

Job 31:31WEB

if the men of my tent have not said, ‘Who can find one who has not been filled with his meat?’

Job 31:32WEB

(the foreigner has not camped in the street, but I have opened my doors to the traveler);

Job 31:33WEB

if like Adam I have covered my transgressions, by hiding my iniquity in my heart,

Job 31:34WEB

because I feared the great multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silence, and didn’t go out of the door—

Job 31:35WEB

oh that I had one to hear me! Behold, here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me! Let the accuser write my indictment!

Job 31:36WEB

Surely I would carry it on my shoulder, and I would bind it to me as a crown.

Job 31:37WEB

I would declare to him the number of my steps. I would go near to him like a prince.

Job 31:38WEB

If my land cries out against me, and its furrows weep together;

Job 31:39WEB

if I have eaten its fruits without money, or have caused its owners to lose their life,

Job 31:40WEB

let briers grow instead of wheat, and stinkweed instead of barley.” The words of Job are ended.

Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain.