Job Chapter 31
1 “I’ve made a covenant with my eyes
not to look with lust at a young woman?
2 What is our portion from God above,
our inheritance from the Almighty on high?
3 Isn’t it misfortune for the unjust,
disaster for sinners?
4 Doesn’t he see everything I do
and count every step I take?
5 “If I’ve supposedly conducted myself falsely
and tried to deceive,
6 let him weigh me with accurate scales
and he’ll find out my integrity.
7 If I’ve strayed off the road,
if my heart has lusted for what my eyes have seen,
if any other blemish has stuck to me,
8 let somebody else eat what I sow;
let them uproot my crops.
Job 31:1-8
9 “If a woman enticed me,
if I’ve lurked at my neighbor’s doorway,
10 may my wife grind for somebody else,
and let others sleep with her.
11 That would be shameful,
a crime judges would punish.
12 a fire that would consume all the way to Abaddon
and completely burn up everything I own.
Job 31:9-12
13 “If I’ve denied claim by my male or female servants,
complaints they filed against me,
14 how could I face God?
What could I say when he questioned me?
15 Didn’t the One that made me in the womb make the accuser too?
Didn’t the same One make us both? Job 31:13-15
16 “If I’ve withheld from the poor what they needed
or stifled widows’ hopes,
17 if I’ve eaten my morsel alone
and a fatherless child hadn’t shared it
(18 from my youth I reared him like a father,
and from infancy I guided her),
19 if I’ve seen anybody perish for lack of clothing
or the needy go without clothes,
20 if their loins haven’t thanked me
and been warmed with wool from my sheep,
21 if I’ve mistreated the fatherless
because I knew the courts would support me—
22 pull my shoulder out of its socket
and break off my arm at the elbow,
23 because calamity from God scares me,
because I can’t resist his majesty.
Job 31:16-23
24 “If I’ve put confidence in gold
and called fine gold my trust,
25 if I’ve gloated because I was wealthy
and had secured so much,
26 if I’ve looked at the shining sun
or the moon moving in splendor,
27 and became secretly enticed
and threw it a kiss—
28 that too would’ve been a sin the judges punish,
because I’d have been disloyal to God above.
Job 31:24-28
29 “Have I celebrated my enemy’s ruin
or been happy when disaster fell on him?
30 No, I haven’t let my mouth sin
by asking for his life in a curse.
31 “Haven’t the ones in my tent said
there’s no one he’s let go hungry?
32 No foreigner has had to lodge outside;
I’ve opened my doors to travelers. Job 31:29-32
33 “Have I covered up my sins like people do
by hiding my iniquity in my heart,
34 because I was afraid of the big crowd
and the contempt of families terrified me,
so I kept quiet and didn’t go outside?
35 Oh that somebody would listen!
Here’s my signature on my defense;
let the Almighty answer me!
Oh that my adversary would write out my indictment;
36 I’d carry it openly on my shoulder
or wear it proudly like a crown.
37 I’d declare to God every step I’d taken
and approach him confidently like a prince.
Job 31:33-37
38 “If my land cries out against me
and my furrows are all wet with tears,
39 if I’ve eaten more than my share of the crops
or broken the spirit of its tenants—
40 let briars grow on my land instead of wheat,
stinkweeds in place of barley.”