[31:1] “I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?
[31:2] What would be my portion from God above and my heritage from the Almighty on high?
[31:3] Is not calamity for the unrighteous, and disaster for the workers of iniquity?
[31:4] Does not he see my ways and number all my steps?
[31:5] “If I have walked with falsehood and my foot has hastened to deceit;
[31:6] (Let me be weighed in a just balance, and let God know my integrity!)
[31:7] if my step has turned aside from the way and my heart has gone after my eyes, and if any spot has stuck to my hands,
[31:8] then let me sow, and another eat, and let what grows for me be rooted out.
[31:9] “If my heart has been enticed toward a woman, and I have lain in wait at my neighbor’s door,
[31:10] then let my wife grind for another, and let others bow down on her.
[31:11] For that would be a heinous crime; that would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges;
[31:12] for that would be a fire that consumes as far as Abaddon, and it would burn to the root all my increase.
[31:13] “If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant, when they brought a complaint against me,
[31:14] what then shall I do when God rises up? When he makes inquiry, what shall I answer him?
[31:15] Did not he who made me in the womb make him? And did not one fashion us in the womb?
[31:16] “If I have withheld anything that the poor desired, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
[31:17] or have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless has not eaten of it
[31:18] (for from my youth the fatherless grew up with me as with a father, and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow),
[31:19] if I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing, or the needy without covering,
[31:20] if his body has not blessed me, and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep,
[31:21] if I have raised my hand against the fatherless, because I saw my help in the gate,
[31:22] then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder, and let my arm be broken from its socket.
[31:23] For I was in terror of calamity from God, and I could not have faced his majesty.
[31:24] “If I have made gold my trust or called fine gold my confidence,
[31:25] if I have rejoiced because my wealth was abundant or because my hand had found much,
[31:26] if I have looked at the sun when it shone, or the moon moving in splendor,
[31:27] and my heart has been secretly enticed, and my mouth has kissed my hand,
[31:28] this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges, for I would have been false to God above.
[31:29] “If I have rejoiced at the ruin of him who hated me, or exulted when evil overtook him
[31:30] (I have not let my mouth sin by asking for his life with a curse),
[31:31] if the men of my tent have not said, ‘Who is there that has not been filled with his meat?’
[31:32] (the sojourner has not lodged in the street; I have opened my doors to the traveler),
[31:33] if I have concealed my transgressions as others do by hiding my iniquity in my heart,
[31:34] because I stood in great fear of the multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silence, and did not go out of doors—
[31:35] Oh, that I had one to hear me! (Here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me!) Oh, that I had the indictment written by my adversary!
[31:36] Surely I would carry it on my shoulder; I would bind it on me as a crown;
[31:37] I would give him an account of all my steps; like a prince I would approach him.
[31:38] “If my land has cried out against me and its furrows have wept together,
[31:39] if I have eaten its yield without payment and made its owners breathe their last,
[31:40] let thorns grow instead of wheat, and foul weeds instead of barley.” The words of Job are ended.