Job 31 - American Standard Version 2015

¹ I made a covenant with mine eyes;\par\tab How then should I look upon a virgin?

² For what is the portion from God above,\par\tab And the heritage from the Almighty on high?

³ Is it not calamity to the unrighteous,\par\tab And disaster to the workers of iniquity?

⁴ Doth not he see my ways,\par\tab And number all my steps?

⁵ If I have walked with falsehood,\par\tab And my foot hath hasted to deceit

⁶ (Let me be weighed in an even balance,\par\tab That God may know mine integrity);

⁷ If my step hath turned out of the way,\par\tab And my heart walked after mine eyes,\par\tab And if any spot hath cleaved to my hands:

⁸ Then let me sow, and let another eat;\par\tab Yea, let the produce of my field be rooted out.\par

⁹ If my heart hath been enticed unto a woman,\par\tab And I have laid wait at my neighbor's door;

¹⁰ Then let my wife grind unto another,\par\tab And let others bow down upon her.

¹¹ For that were a heinous crime;\par\tab Yea, it were an iniquity to be punished by the judges:

¹² For it is a fire that consumeth unto Destruction,\par\tab And would root out all mine increase.

¹³ If I have despised the cause of my man-servant or of my maid-servant,\par\tab When they contended with me;

¹⁴ What then shall I do when God riseth up?\par\tab And when he visiteth, what shall I answer him?

¹⁵ Did not he that made me in the womb make him?\par\tab And did not one fashion us in the womb?\par

¹⁶ If I have withheld the poor from {\i their} desire,\par\tab Or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,

¹⁷ Or have eaten my morsel alone,\par\tab And the fatherless hath not eaten thereof

¹⁸ (Nay, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father,\par\tab And her have I guided from my mother's womb);

¹⁹ If I have seen any perish for want of clothing,\par\tab Or that the needy had no covering;

²⁰ If his loins have not blessed me,\par\tab And if he hath not been warmed with the fleece of my sheep;

²¹ If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless,\par\tab Because I saw my help in the gate:

²² Then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder-blade,\par\tab And mine arm be broken from the bone.

²³ For calamity from God is a terror to me,\par\tab And by reason of his majesty I can do nothing.\par

²⁴ If I have made gold my hope,\par\tab And have said to the fine gold, {\i Thou art} my confidence;

²⁵ If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great,\par\tab And because my hand had gotten much;

²⁶ If I have beheld the sun when it shined,\par\tab Or the moon walking in brightness,

²⁷ And my heart hath been secretly enticed,\par\tab And my mouth hath kissed my hand:

²⁸ This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judges;\par\tab For I should have denied the God that is above.

²⁹ If I have rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me,\par\tab Or lifted up myself when evil found him

³⁰ (Yea, I have not suffered by mouth to sin\par\tab By asking his life with a curse);

³¹ If the men of my tent have not said,\par\tab Who can find one that hath not been filled with his meat?

³² (The sojourner hath not lodged in the street;\par\tab But I have opened my doors to the traveller);

³³ If like Adam I have covered my transgressions,\par\tab By hiding mine iniquity in my bosom,

³⁴ Because I feared the great multitude,\par\tab And the contempt of families terrified me,\par\tab So that I kept silence, and went not out of the door—

³⁵ Oh that I had one to hear me!\par\tab (Lo, here is my signature, let the Almighty answer me)\par\tab And {\i that I had} the indictment which mine adversary hath written!

³⁶ Surely I would carry it upon my shoulder;\par\tab I would bind it unto me as a crown:

³⁷ I would declare unto him the number of my steps;\par\tab As a prince would I go near unto him.

³⁸ If my land crieth out against me,\par\tab And the furrows thereof weep together;

³⁹ If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money,\par\tab Or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life:

⁴⁰ Let thistles grow instead of wheat,\par\tab And cockle instead of barley.\par\par\tab The words of Job are ended.