Job 31:9-40 ▼

9 If my heart has been enticed over a woman, or I have lain in wait at the door of my neighbor,

10 then let my wife grind for another, and others bend down over her.

11 For it is wickedness, and it is to be judged an iniquity.

12 For it is a fire that devours unto Abaddon, and it would uproot among all my produce.

13 If I have rejected the justice of my manservant or my maidservant, in their dispute with me,

14 then what shall I do when God arises? And when He inspects, how shall I answer him?

15 Did not the One making me in the belly make them, and that One prepare us in the womb?

16 If I have withheld the poor from pleasure and made to fail the eyes of the widow,

17 and have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless could not eat from it—

18 indeed from my youth I brought him up as a father, and from the womb of my mother I guided her—

19 if I have seen one perishing from lack of clothing, or there being no covering for the needy,

20 if his loins have not blessed me for warming him by the fleece of my sheep,

21 if I have raised my hand against the fatherless, because I saw my help at the gate,

22 then let my upper arm fall from its shoulder, and my arm be broken off from its socket.

23 For a calamity from God is dread to me, and His majesty I cannot overpower.

24 If I have set my confidence upon gold, or to fine gold I have said, “My trust;”

25 if I have rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because my hand had acquired much;

26 if I have seen the light when it shines, or the moon moving in splendor,

27 so that my heart has been enticed in secret, and my hand has kissed my mouth,

28 then this also be judged an iniquity, for I would have lied to God above.

29 If I have rejoiced in the destruction of one hating me, or raised myself up because evil found him—

30 though I had not given my mouth to sin by asking with a curse for his life—

31 if the men of my tent have not said, ‘Who will give from his flesh not having been satisfied?’—

32 A sojourner does not lodge in the street, for I have opened my doors to the traveler—

33 if I have covered my transgressions like Adam, by hiding my guilt in my bosom,

34 because I feared the great multitude, and the contempt of the clans terrified me and I kept silent, not going out the door—

35 (Who will give to me one listening to me? Behold, my mark and let Shaddai answer me! And the bill the man of my dispute that has written!

36 If not, I would take it up upon my shoulder, and bind it as crowns to myself.

37 The count of my steps I would declare to him; like a prince I would approach Him.)—

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

39 if I have eaten its power without silver, and I have caused to breathe out the soul of its workers,

40 then in place of the wheat let a thorn come forth, and weeds in place of barley.” The words of Job have ended.