Job 31, side by side

¹“I have made a covenant with my eyes. How then could I gaze with desire at a virgin?

¹I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?

²For what is the allotment of God from above, or the heritage from the Almighty on high?

²For what portion of God is there from above? and what inheritance of the Almighty from on high?

³Does not disaster come to the unjust and calamity to the workers of iniquity?

³Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity?

⁴Does He not see my ways and count my every step?

⁴Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps?

⁵If I have walked in falsehood or my foot has rushed to deceit,

⁵If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit;

⁶let God weigh me with honest scales, that He may know my integrity.

⁶Let me be weighed in an even balance that God may know mine integrity.

⁷If my steps have turned from the path, if my heart has followed my eyes, or if impurity has stuck to my hands,

⁷If my step hath turned out of the way, and mine heart walked after mine eyes, and if any blot hath cleaved to mine hands;

⁸then may another eat what I have sown, and may my crops be uprooted.

⁸Then let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted out.

⁹If my heart has been enticed by my neighbor’s wife, or I have lurked at his door,

⁹If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at my neighbour’s door;

¹⁰then may my own wife grind grain for another, and may other men sleep with her.

¹⁰Then let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her.

¹¹For that would be a heinous crime, an iniquity to be judged.

¹¹For this is an heinous crime; yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges.

¹²For it is a fire that burns down to Abaddon; it would root out my entire harvest.

¹²For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase.

¹³If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or maidservant when they made a complaint against me,

¹³If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, when they contended with me;

¹⁴what will I do when God rises to judge? How will I answer when called to account?

¹⁴What then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him?

¹⁵Did not He who made me in the womb also make them? Did not the same One form us in the womb?

¹⁵Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb?

¹⁶If I have denied the desires of the poor or allowed the widow’s eyes to fail,

¹⁶If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail;

¹⁷if I have eaten my morsel alone, not sharing it with the fatherless—

¹⁷Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof;

¹⁸though from my youth I reared him as would a father, and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow—

¹⁸(For from my youth he was brought up with me, as with a father, and I have guided her from my mother’s womb;)

¹⁹if I have seen one perish for lack of clothing, or a needy man without a cloak,

¹⁹If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering;

²⁰if his heart has not blessed me for warming him with the fleece of my sheep,

²⁰If his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep;

²¹if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless because I saw that I had support in the gate,

²¹If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate:

²²then may my arm fall from my shoulder and be torn from its socket.

²²Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone.

²³For calamity from God terrifies me, and His splendor I cannot overpower.

²³For destruction from God was a terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure.

²⁴If I have put my trust in gold or called pure gold my security,

²⁴If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence;

²⁵if I have rejoiced in my great wealth because my hand had gained so much,

²⁵If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because mine hand had gotten much;

²⁶if I have beheld the sun in its radiance or the moon moving in splendor,

²⁶If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness;

²⁷so that my heart was secretly enticed and my hand threw a kiss from my mouth,

²⁷And my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand:

²⁸this would also be an iniquity to be judged, for I would have denied God on high.

²⁸This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should have denied the God that is above.

²⁹If I have rejoiced in my enemy’s ruin, or exulted when evil befell him—

²⁹If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him:

³⁰I have not allowed my mouth to sin by asking for his life with a curse—

³⁰Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his soul.

³¹if the men of my house have not said, ‘Who is there who has not had his fill?’—

³¹If the men of my tabernacle said not, Oh that we had of his flesh! we cannot be satisfied.

³²but no stranger had to lodge on the street, for my door has been open to the traveler—

³²The stranger did not lodge in the street: but I opened my doors to the traveller.

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

³³If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom:

³⁴because I greatly feared the crowds and the contempt of the clans terrified me, so that I kept silent and would not go outside—

³⁴Did I fear a great multitude, or did the contempt of families terrify me, that I kept silence, and went not out of the door?

³⁵(Oh, that I had one to hear me! Here is my signature. Let the Almighty answer me; let my accuser compose an indictment.

³⁵Oh that one would hear me! behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, and that mine adversary had written a book.

³⁶Surely I would carry it on my shoulder and wear it like a crown.

³⁶Surely I would take it upon my shoulder, and bind it as a crown to me.

³⁷I would give account of all my steps; I would approach Him like a prince.)—

³⁷I would declare unto him the number of my steps; as a prince would I go near unto him.

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

³⁸If my land cry against me, or that the furrows likewise thereof complain;

³⁹if I have devoured its produce without payment or broken the spirit of its tenants,

³⁹If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life:

⁴⁰then let briers grow instead of wheat and stinkweed instead of barley.” Thus conclude the words of Job.

⁴⁰Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.