Job 31:1-40
31 “A covenant I have concluded with my eyes.+So how could I show myself attentive to a virgin?+
2 And what portion is there from God* above,+Or inheritance from the Almighty from on high?
3 Is there not disaster for a wrongdoer,+And misfortune for those practicing what is hurtful?
4 Does he not himself see my ways+And count even all my steps?
5 If I have walked with [men of] untruth,+And my foot hastens to deception,+
6 He will weigh me in accurate scales*+And God* will get to know my integrity.+
7 If my stepping deviates from the way,+Or my heart has walked merely after my eyes,+Or any defect has stuck in my own palms,+
8 Let me sow seed and someone else eat,+And let my own descendants be rooted out.
9 If my heart has been enticed toward a woman,+And I kept lying in wait+ at the very entranceway of my companion,
10 Let my wife do the grinding for another man,And over her let other men kneel down.+
11 For that would be loose conduct,And that would be an error for [attention by] the justices.+
12 For that is a fire that would eat clear to destruction,*+And among all my produce it would take root.
13 If I used to refuse the judgment of my slave manOr of my slave girl in their case at law with me,
14 Then what can I do when God* rises up?And when he calls for an accounting, what can I answer him?+
15 Did not the One making me in the belly make him,+And did not just One proceed to prepare us in the womb?
16 If I used to hold back the lowly ones from [their] delight,+And the eyes of the widow I would cause to fail,+
17 And I used to eat my morsel by myself,While the fatherless boy did not eat from it+
18 (For from my youth he grew up with me as with a father,And from the belly of my mother I kept leading her);
19 If I used to see anyone perishing from having no garment,+Or that the poor one had no covering;
20 If his loins did not bless me,+Nor from the shorn wool+ of my young rams he would warm himself;
21 If I waved my hand to and fro against the fatherless boy,+When I would see [need of] my assistance in the gate,+
22 Let my own shoulder blade fall from its shoulder,And let my own arm be broken from its upper bone.
23 For disaster from God* was a dread to me,And against his dignity+ I could not hold out.
24 If I have put gold* as my confidence,Or to gold* I have said, ‘You are my trust!’+
25 If I used to rejoice because my property was much,+And because my hand had found a lot of things;+
26 If I used to see the light when it would flash forth,Or the precious moon walking along,+
27 And my heart began to be enticed in secrecy+And my hand proceeded to kiss my mouth,*
28 That too would be an error for [attention by] the justices,For I should have denied the [true] God above.
29 If I used to rejoice at the extinction of one intensely hating me,+Or I felt excited* because evil had found him—
30 And I did not allow my palate to sinBy asking for an oath against his soul.+
31 If the men of my tent did not say,‘Who can produce anyone that has not been satisfied from food* of his?’+—
32 Outside no alien resident would spend the night;+My doors I kept open to the path.*
33 If like an earthling man* I covered over my transgressions+By hiding my error in my shirt pocket—
34 Because I would suffer a shock at a large crowd,Or the contempt itself of families would terrorize meAnd I would keep silent, I would not go out of the entrance.
35 O that I had someone listening to me,+That according to my signature* the Almighty himself would answer me!+Or that the individual* in the case at law with me had written a document itself!
36 Surely upon my shoulder I would carry it;I would bind it around me like a grand crown.
37 The number of my steps I would tell him;+Like a leader I would approach him.
38 If against me my own ground would cry for aid,And together its furrows themselves would weep;
39 If its fruitage* I have eaten without money,+And the soul of its owners I have caused to pant,+
40 Instead of wheat let the thorny weed go forth,+And instead of barley stinking weeds.”
The words of Job have come to an end.
Footnotes
^ “God.” Heb., ʼElohʹah; Gr., ho The·osʹ.
^ Lit., “in scales of righteousness.”
^ “God.” Heb., ʼElohʹah; LXX, “Jehovah.”
^ “God.” Heb., ʼEl.
^ “God.” Heb., ʼEl; Gr., Ky·riʹou, “Jehovah.”
^ “Gold.” Heb., za·havʹ.
^ Apparently alluding to throwing a kiss with the hand in an idolatrous practice. Kissing of idols is mentioned in 1Ki 19:18; Ho 13:2.
^ “Felt excited,” M; T, “made a joyful noise.”
^ Lit., “flesh; meat.”
^ “Path,” M; TLXXSyVg, “traveler.”
^ “Like an earthling man (Adam; man).” Heb., kheʼa·dhamʹ, possibly, “from man; among men.”
^ Lit., “mark,” evidently in writing, confirming a legal document.
^ Lit., “man.” Heb., ʼish.
^ Lit., “its power.” Heb., ko·chahʹ.
