Job 31:7-40 ▼

7 If my step turns aside from the way, || And my heart has gone after my eyes, || And blemish has cleaved to my hands,

8 Let me sow—and another eat, || And let my products be rooted out.

9 If my heart has been enticed by a woman, || And I laid wait by the opening of my neighbor,

10 Let my wife grind to another, || And let others bend over her.

11 For it [is] a wicked thing, and a judicial iniquity;

12 For it [is] a fire, it consumes to destruction, || And takes root among all my increase,

13 If I despise the cause of my manservant, || And of my handmaid, || In their contending with me,

14 Then what do I do when God arises? And when He inspects, || What do I answer Him?

15 Did He that made me in the womb not make him? Indeed, One prepares us in the womb.

16 If I withhold the poor from pleasure, || And consume the eyes of the widow,

17 And I eat my morsel by myself, || And the orphan has nothing [to] eat of it,

18 (But from my youth || He grew up with me as [with] a father, || And from the belly of my mother I am led),

19 If I see [any] perishing without clothing, || And there is no covering for the needy,

20 If his loins have not blessed me, || And from the fleece of my sheep || He does not warm himself,

21 If I have waved my hand at the fatherless, || When I see [him] in the gate of my court,

22 Let my shoulder fall from its blade, || And the bone from my arm be broken.

23 For calamity [from] God [is] a dread to me, || And because of His excellence I am not able.

24 If I have made gold my confidence, || And to the pure gold have said, My trust;

25 If I rejoice because my wealth [is] great, || And because my hand has found abundance,

26 If I see the light when it shines, || And the precious moon walking,

27 And my heart is enticed in secret, || And my hand kisses my mouth,

28 It also [is] a judicial iniquity, || For I had lied to God above.

29 If I rejoice at the ruin of my hater, || And stirred up myself when evil found him,

30 Indeed, I have not permitted my mouth to sin, || To ask with an oath his life.

31 If not, say, O men of my tent: O that we had of his flesh, we are not satisfied.

32 A stranger does not lodge in the street, || I open my doors to the traveler.

33 If I have covered my transgressions as Adam, || To hide my iniquity in my bosom,

34 Because I fear a great multitude, || And the contempt of families frightens me, || Then I am silent, I do not go out of the opening.

35 Who gives to me a hearing? Behold, my mark. The Mighty One answers me, || And my adversary has written a bill.

36 If not—on my shoulder I take it up, || I bind it [as] a crown on myself.

37 The number of my steps I tell Him, || As a leader I approach Him.

38 If my land cries out against me, || And together its furrows weep,

39 If I consumed its strength without money, || And the life of its possessors, I have caused to breathe out,

40 Instead of wheat let a thorn go forth, || And instead of barley a useless weed!” The words of Job are finished.