|
Chapter 31 |
|
1 | I made a covenant with mine eyes; why
then should I think upon a maid? |
| 2 | For what portion of God is
there from above? and what inheritance of the Almighty from on high? |
| 3 |
Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment to the workers of
iniquity? |
| 4
| Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps?
|
| 5 | If I have walked with vanity, or if 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 blot hath cleaved to mine hands; |
| 8 |
Then let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted
out. |
| 9 |
If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, or if 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 this is an heinous crime;
yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges. |
| 12 | For it is a
fire that consumeth to 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 myself alone, and the fatherless
hath not eaten thereof; |
| 18 | (For from my youth he was brought up with
me, as with a father, and I have guided her from my mother's womb;) |
| 19 |
If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without
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, when I saw my help in the gate: |
| 22 | Then let
mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the
bone. |
| 23 |
For destruction from God was a terror to me, and by reason of
his highness I could not endure. |
| 24 | If I have made gold my hope,
or have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence; |
| 25 | If I rejoice
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, or my mouth hath kissed my
hand: |
| 28 |
This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I
should have denied the God that is above. |
|
29 | If I rejoice at the
destruction of him that hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found
him: |
| 30 |
Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to
his soul. |
| 31
| If the men of my tabernacle said not, Oh that we had of
his flesh! we cannot be satisfied. |
| 32 | The stranger did not lodge in
the street: but I opened my doors to the traveller. |
| 33 | If I covered
my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom: |
| 34 | Did
I fear a great multitude, or did the contempt of families terrify me, that I
kept silence, and went not out of the door? |
|
35 | Oh that one would hear
me! behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, and that mine
adversary had written a book. |
|
36 | Surely I would take it upon my
shoulder, and bind it as a crown to me. |
|
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 against me, or that the furrows likewise thereof complain;
|
| 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. |
