Chapter 31

  I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?  

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  For what portion of God [is there] from above? and [what] inheritance of the Almighty from on high?  

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  [Is] not destruction to the wicked? and a strange [punishment] to the workers of iniquity?  

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  Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps?  

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  If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit;  

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  Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine integrity.  

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  If my step hath turned out of the way, and mine heart walked after mine eyes, and if any blot hath cleaved to mine hands;  

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  [Then] let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted out.  

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  If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, or [if] I have laid wait at my neighbour's door;  

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  [Then] let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her.  

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  For this [is] an heinous crime; yea, it [is] an iniquity [to be punished by] the judges.  

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  For it [is] a fire [that] consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase.  

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  If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, when they contended with me;  

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  What then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him?  

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  Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb?  

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  If I have withheld the poor from [their] desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail;  

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  Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof;  

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  (For from my youth he was brought up with me, as [with] a father, and I have guided her from my mother's womb;)  

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  If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering;  

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  If his loins have not blessed me, and [if] he were [not] warmed with the fleece of my sheep;  

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  If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate:  

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  [Then] let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone.  

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  For destruction [from] God [was] a terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure.  

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  If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, [Thou art] my confidence;  

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  If I rejoiced because my wealth [was] great, and because mine hand had gotten much;  

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  If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking [in] brightness;  

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  And my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand:  

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  This also [were] an iniquity [to be punished by] the judge: for I should have denied the God [that is] above.  

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  If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him:  

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  Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his soul.  

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  If the men of my tabernacle said not, Oh that we had of his flesh! we cannot be satisfied.  

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  The stranger did not lodge in the street: [but] I opened my doors to the traveller.  

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  If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom:  

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  Did I fear a great multitude, or did the contempt of families terrify me, that I kept silence, [and] went not out of the door?  

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  Oh that one would hear me! behold, my desire [is, that] the Almighty would answer me, and [that] mine adversary had written a book.  

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  Surely I would take it upon my shoulder, [and] bind it [as] a crown to me.  

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  I would declare unto him the number of my steps; as a prince would I go near unto him.  

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  If my land cry against me, or that the furrows likewise thereof complain;  

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  If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life:  

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  Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.  

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