Job 31 - Revised Version 1885

¹ I made a covenant with mine eyes; how then should I look upon a maid?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

⁹ If mine heart have been enticed unto a woman, And I have laid wait at my neighbour's door:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

²³ For calamity from God was a terror to me, And by reason of his excellency I could do nothing

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

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

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

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

²⁸ This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judges: For I should have lied to God that is above.

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

³⁰ (Yea, I suffered not my mouth to sin By asking his life with a curse;)

³¹ If the men of my tent said not, Who can find one that hath not been satisfied with his flesh?

³² The stranger did not lodge in the street; But I opened my doors to the traveller;

³³ If like Adam I covered my transgressions, By hiding mine iniquity in my bosom;

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

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

³⁶ Surely I would carry it upon my shoulder; I would bind it unto me as a crown.

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

³⁸ If my land cry out against me, And the furrows thereof weep together;

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

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