Job 31

Job’s Final Protest of Innocence

¹“I made a covenant with my eyes

not to look with lust at a young woman.

²For what has God above chosen for us?

What is our inheritance from the Almighty on high?

³Isn’t it calamity for the wicked

and misfortune for those who do evil?

⁴Doesn’t he see everything I do

and every step I take?

⁵“Have I lied to anyone

or deceived anyone?

⁶Let God weigh me on the scales of justice,

for he knows my integrity.

⁷If I have strayed from his pathway,

or if my heart has lusted for what my eyes have seen,

or if I am guilty of any other sin,

⁸then let someone else eat the crops I have planted.

Let all that I have planted be uprooted.

⁹“If my heart has been seduced by a woman,

or if I have lusted for my neighbor’s wife,

¹⁰then let my wife serve^a another man;

let other men sleep with her.

¹¹For lust is a shameful sin,

a crime that should be punished.

¹²It is a fire that burns all the way to hell.^b

It would wipe out everything I own.

¹³“If I have been unfair to my male or female servants

when they brought their complaints to me,

¹⁴how could I face God?

What could I say when he questioned me?

¹⁵For God created both me and my servants.

He created us both in the womb.

¹⁶“Have I refused to help the poor,

or crushed the hopes of widows?

¹⁷Have I been stingy with my food

and refused to share it with orphans?

¹⁸No, from childhood I have cared for orphans like a father,

and all my life I have cared for widows.

¹⁹Whenever I saw the homeless without clothes

and the needy with nothing to wear,

²⁰did they not praise me

for providing wool clothing to keep them warm?

²¹“If I raised my hand against an orphan,

knowing the judges would take my side,

²²then let my shoulder be wrenched out of place!

Let my arm be torn from its socket!

²³That would be better than facing God’s judgment.

For if the majesty of God opposes me, what hope is there?

²⁴“Have I put my trust in money

or felt secure because of my gold?

²⁵Have I gloated about my wealth

and all that I own?

²⁶“Have I looked at the sun shining in the skies,

or the moon walking down its silver pathway,

²⁷and been secretly enticed in my heart

to throw kisses at them in worship?

²⁸If so, I should be punished by the judges,

for it would mean I had denied the God of heaven.

²⁹“Have I ever rejoiced when disaster struck my enemies,

or become excited when harm came their way?

³⁰No, I have never sinned by cursing anyone

or by asking for revenge.

³¹“My servants have never said,

‘He let others go hungry.’

³²I have never turned away a stranger

but have opened my doors to everyone.

³³“Have I tried to hide my sins like other people do,

concealing my guilt in my heart?

³⁴Have I feared the crowd

or the contempt of the masses,

so that I kept quiet and stayed indoors?

³⁵“If only someone would listen to me!

Look, I will sign my name to my defense.

Let the Almighty answer me.

Let my accuser write out the charges against me.

³⁶I would face the accusation proudly.

I would wear it like a crown.

³⁷For I would tell him exactly what I have done.

I would come before him like a prince.

³⁸“If my land accuses me

and all its furrows cry out together,

³⁹or if I have stolen its crops

or murdered its owners,

⁴⁰then let thistles grow on that land instead of wheat,

and weeds instead of barley.”

Job’s words are ended.