Job 31

Job's Final Appeal

¹“I have made a covenant with my eyes;

how then could I gaze at a virgin?

²What would be my portion from God above

and my heritage from the Almighty on high?

³Is not calamity for the unrighteous,

and disaster for the workers of iniquity?

⁴Does not he see my ways

and number all my steps?

⁵“If I have walked with falsehood

and my foot has hastened to deceit;

⁶(Let me be weighed in a just balance,

and let God know my integrity!)

⁷if 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,

⁸then let me sow, and another eat,

and let what grows for me be rooted out.

⁹“If my heart has been enticed toward a woman,

and I have lain in wait at my neighbor's door,

¹⁰then let my wife grind for another,

and let others bow down on her.

¹¹For that would be a heinous crime;

that would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges;

¹²for that would be a fire that consumes as far as Abaddon,

and it would burn to the root all my increase.

¹³“If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant,

when they brought a complaint against me,

¹⁴what then shall I do when God rises up?

When he makes inquiry, what shall I answer him?

¹⁵Did not he who made me in the womb make him?

And did not one fashion us in the womb?

¹⁶“If I have withheld anything that the poor desired,

or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,

¹⁷or have eaten my morsel alone,

and the fatherless has not eaten of it

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

¹⁹if I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing,

or the needy without covering,

²⁰if his body has not blessed me,

and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep,

²¹if I have raised my hand against the fatherless,

because I saw my help in the gate,

²²then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder,

and let my arm be broken from its socket.

²³For I was in terror of calamity from God,

and I could not have faced his majesty.

²⁴“If I have made gold my trust

or called fine gold my confidence,

²⁵if I have rejoiced because my wealth was abundant

or because my hand had found much,

²⁶if I have looked at the sun when it shone,

or the moon moving in splendor,

²⁷and my heart has been secretly enticed,

and my mouth has kissed my hand,

²⁸this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges,

for I would have been false to God above.

²⁹“If I have rejoiced at the ruin of him who hated me,

or exulted when evil overtook him

³⁰(I have not let my mouth sin

by asking for his life with a curse),

³¹if the men of my tent have not said,

‘Who is there that has not been filled with his meat?’

³²(the sojourner has not lodged in the street;

I have opened my doors to the traveler),

³³if I have concealed my transgressions as others do

by hiding my iniquity in my heart,

³⁴because 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—

³⁵Oh, 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!

³⁶Surely I would carry it on my shoulder;

I would bind it on me as a crown;

³⁷I would give him an account of all my steps;

like a prince I would approach him.

³⁸“If my land has cried out against me

and its furrows have wept together,

³⁹if I have eaten its yield without payment

and made its owners breathe their last,

⁴⁰let thorns grow instead of wheat,

and foul weeds instead of barley.”

The words of Job are ended.