Job 31:13–40

¹³If I have despised the cause of my bondman or of my bondmaid, when they contended with me, ¹⁴What then should I do when •God riseth up? and if he visited, what should I answer him? ¹⁵Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not One fashion us in the womb?

¹⁶If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or caused the eyes of the widow to fail; ¹⁷Or have eaten my morsel alone, so that the fatherless ate not thereof, ¹⁸(For from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, and I have guided the widow from my mother’s womb;) ¹⁹If I have seen any perishing for want of clothing, or any needy without covering; ²⁰If his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my lambs; ²¹If I have lifted up my hand against an orphan, because I saw my help in the gate: ²²Then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder-blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone! ²³For calamity from •God was a terror to me, and by reason of his excellency I was powerless.

²⁴If I have made gold my hope, or said to the fine gold, My confidence! ²⁵If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because my hand had gotten much; ²⁶If I beheld the sun when it shone, or the moon walking in brightness, ²⁷And my heart have been secretly enticed, so that my mouth kissed my hand: ²⁸This also would be an iniquity for the judge, for I should have denied the •God who is above. ²⁹If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, and exulted when evil befell him; ³⁰(Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by asking his life with a curse;) ³¹If the men of my tent said not, Who shall find one that hath not been satisfied with his meat? — ³²The stranger did not lodge without; I opened my doors to the pathway.

³³If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom, ³⁴Because I feared the great multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silence, and went not out of the door, … ³⁵Oh that I had one to hear me! Behold my signature: let the Almighty answer me! And let mine opponent write an accusation! ³⁶Would I not take it upon my shoulder? I would bind it on to me as a crown; ³⁷I would declare unto him the number of my steps; as a prince would I come near to him. ³⁸If my land cry out against me, and its furrows weep together; ³⁹If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, and have tormented to death the souls of its owners: ⁴⁰Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and tares instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.