Job 31

Job 31

New King James Version (NKJV)

31 “I have made a covenant with my eyes;
Why then should I look upon a young woman?
² For what is the allotment of God from above,
And the inheritance of the Almighty from on high?
³ Is it not destruction for the wicked,
And disaster for the workers of iniquity?
⁴ Does He not see my ways,
And count all my steps?

⁵ “If I have walked with falsehood,
Or if my foot has hastened to deceit,
⁶ Let me be weighed on honest scales,
That God may know my integrity.
⁷ If my step has turned from the way,
Or my heart walked after my eyes,
Or if any spot adheres to my hands,
⁸ Then let me sow, and another eat;
Yes, let my harvest be rooted out.
⁹ “If my heart has been enticed by a woman,
Or if I have lurked at my neighbor’s door,
¹⁰ Then let my wife grind for another,
And let others bow down over her.
¹¹ For that would be wickedness;
Yes, it would be iniquity deserving of judgment.
¹² For that would be a fire that consumes to destruction,
And would root out all my increase.

¹³ “If I have despised the cause of my male or female servant
When they complained against me,
¹⁴ What then shall I do when God rises up?
When He punishes, how shall I answer Him?
¹⁵ Did not He who made me in the womb make them?
Did not the same One fashion us in the womb?

¹⁶ “If I have kept the poor from their desire,
Or caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
¹⁷ Or eaten my morsel by myself,
So that the fatherless could not eat of it
¹⁸ (But from my youth I reared him as a father,
And from my mother’s womb I guided the widow^[a]);
¹⁹ If I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing,
Or any poor man without covering;
²⁰ If his heart^[b] has not blessed me,
And if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep;
²¹ If I have raised my hand against the fatherless,
When I saw I had help in the gate;
²² Then let my arm fall from my shoulder,
Let my arm be torn from the socket.
²³ For destruction from God is a terror to me,
And because of His magnificence I cannot endure.

²⁴ “If I have made gold my hope,
Or said to fine gold, ‘You are my confidence’;
²⁵ If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great,
And because my hand had gained much;
²⁶ If I have observed the sun^[c] when it shines,
Or the moon moving in brightness,
²⁷ So that my heart has been secretly enticed,
And my mouth has kissed my hand;
²⁸ This also would be an iniquity deserving of judgment,
For I would have denied God who is above.

²⁹ “If I have rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me,
Or lifted myself up when evil found him
³⁰ (Indeed I have not allowed my mouth to sin
By asking for a curse on his soul);
³¹ If the men of my tent have not said,
‘Who is there that has not been satisfied with his meat?’
³² (But no sojourner had to lodge in the street,
For I have opened my doors to the traveler^[d]);
³³ If I have covered my transgressions as Adam,
By hiding my iniquity in my bosom,
³⁴ Because I feared the great multitude,
And dreaded the contempt of families,
So that I kept silence
And did not go out of the door—
³⁵ Oh, that I had one to hear me!
Here is my mark.
Oh, that the Almighty would answer me,
That my Prosecutor had written a book!
³⁶ Surely I would carry it on my shoulder,
And bind it on me like a crown;
³⁷ I would declare to Him the number of my steps;
Like a prince I would approach Him.

³⁸ “If my land cries out against me,
And its furrows weep together;
³⁹ If I have eaten its fruit^[e] without money,
Or caused its owners to lose their lives;
⁴⁰ Then let thistles grow instead of wheat,
And weeds instead of barley.”