Job 31

Modern English Version

31 “I made a covenant with my eyes;
    why then should I look upon a young woman?
² For what portion of God is there from above?
    And what inheritance of the Almighty from on high?
³ Does not destruction belong to the wicked,
    and calamity to the workers of iniquity?
⁴ Does He not see my ways,
    and count all my steps?

⁵ “If I have walked in vanity,
    or if my foot has hurried after deceit,
⁶ let me be weighed in an even balance
    that God may know my integrity.
⁷ If my step has turned out of the path,
    and my heart has gone after my eyes,
    and if any spot has clung to my hands,
⁸ then let me sow, but let another eat;
    yes, let my offspring be rooted out.

⁹ “If my heart has been deceived by a woman,
    or if I have laid wait at my neighbor’s door,
¹⁰ then let my wife grind for another,
    and let others bow down over her.
¹¹ For this is a heinous crime;
    yes, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges.
¹² For it is 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 will I do when God rises up?
    And when He visits, what will I answer Him?
¹⁵ Did not He who made me in the womb make him?
    And did not the same One fashion us in the womb?

¹⁶ “If I have kept the poor from their desire,
    or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
¹⁷ or have eaten my morsel by myself,
    so that the fatherless could not eat of it
¹⁸ (but from my youth he was brought up with me, as with a father,
    and I have guided the widow from my mother’s womb);
¹⁹ if I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing,
    or any poor without covering;
²⁰ if his body has not blessed me,
    and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep;
²¹ if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless,
    when I saw I had help in the gate;
²² then let my arm fall from my shoulder blade,
    and my arm be broken from the bone.
²³ For destruction from God is a terror to me,
    and because of His highness I cannot endure.

²⁴ “If I have made gold my hope,
    or have said to the fine gold, ‘You are my confidence’;
²⁵ if I rejoiced because my wealth was great,
    and because my hand had gained much;
²⁶ if I saw the sun when it shined,
    or the moon moving in brightness;
²⁷ and my heart has been secretly enticed,
    or my mouth has kissed my hand;
²⁸ this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judge,
    for I would have denied the God who is above.

²⁹ “If I rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me,
    or lifted up myself when disaster found him
³⁰ (nor have I allowed my mouth to sin
    by wishing for a curse on his soul);
³¹ if the men of my tent have not said,
    ‘Who is there who has not been satisfied with his meat?’
³² (the stranger has not lodged in the street,
    but I opened my doors to the traveler);
³³ if I covered my transgressions as any man,
    by hiding my iniquity in my heart,
³⁴ did I fear a great multitude,
    or did the contempt of families terrify me,
    so that I kept silence, and did not go out of the door?

³⁵ “Oh, that one would hear me!
    Behold, my desire is that the Almighty would answer me,
    and that the One who contends against me 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 also weep together;
³⁹ if I have eaten its fruit without money,
    or have caused its owners to lose their life;
⁴⁰ let thistles grow instead of wheat,
    and weeds instead of barley.”