Job 31

VIN^{(i) 1} "I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a young woman. ² "What is man's lot from God above, his heritage from the Almighty on high? ³ "Is it not ruin for the wicked, disaster for those who do wrong? ⁴ "Does he not see my ways and count my every step? ⁵ "If I have walked in falsehood or my foot has hurried after deceit ⁶ "let God weigh me on honest scales and he will know that I am blameless. ⁷ "If my steps have turned from the path, if my heart has been led by my eyes, or if my hands have been defiled, ⁸ then may others eat what I have sown, and may my crops be uprooted. ⁹ "If my heart has been enticed by a woman, or if I have lurked at my neighbor's door, ¹⁰ then may my wife grind another man's grain, and may other men sleep with her. ¹¹ "For that would have been shameful (a crime), a sin to be judged. ¹² for it is a fire that consumes to destruction, and would root out all my increase. ¹³ If I have slighted the cause of my man servant or maid servant when they had a controversy with me, ¹⁴ what then will I do when God rises up? When he visits, what will I answer him? ¹⁵ Did not he who made me in the womb make him? Did not the same one fashion us in the womb? ¹⁶ ¶ If I have disturbed the desire of the poor or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail; ¹⁷ if I have eaten my morsel alone, and have not shared it with the orphan; ¹⁸ for from my youth I reared the orphan like a father, and from my mother's womb I guided the widow. ¹⁹ If I have seen any perishing for want of clothing, or any needy without covering; ²⁰ If his heart has not blessed me, and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep; ²¹ If I have raised a hand against the fatherless, because I had around me greater support: ²² Then let my arm fall from my shoulder-blade, and my arm be broken from the bone. ²³ For I feared destruction from God, against whose highness I could have no power. ²⁴ "If I've put my confidence in gold, if I've said to gold, 'You're my security,' ²⁵ If I have rejoiced over my great riches, and because my hand had gotten much. ²⁶ if I have seen the sun when it shined, or the moon moving in splendor, ²⁷ and I was secretly enticed, and my hand threw them a kiss, ²⁸ this also would be an iniquity for the judges; for I would have denied the God above. ²⁹ "If I have rejoiced at the ruin of the one who hated me or have exulted when evil overtook him— ³⁰ For I have not given my mouth to sin, by wishing a curse to his soul. ³¹ If the men of my tent did not say, Who has not had full measure of his meat? ³² the stranger did not sleep in the street, for I opened my doors to the traveler; ³³ if like Adam I have covered my transgressions, by hiding my iniquity in my heart, ³⁴ Have I feared large crowds? Have my family's contempt ever terrified me so that I remained silent and wouldn't go outside." ³⁵ Oh that I had one to hear me! Behold my mark. Let the Almighty answer me, and my Accuser write an indictment. ³⁶ "Surely I would carry it on my shoulder; I would bind it on me like a crown. ³⁷ "I would give him an account of all 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 yield without payment, and caused the death of its owners; ⁴⁰ let thorns come forth instead of wheat, and weeds instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.