Job 31:1–23

Job’s Final Appeal

31“I have made a covenant with my ^beyes;

how then could I gaze at a virgin?

²What would be ^cmy portion from God above

and ^cmy heritage from the Almighty on high?

³Is not calamity for the unrighteous,

and disaster for the workers of iniquity?

^4dDoes not he see my ways

and ^enumber all my steps?

⁵“If I have walked with falsehood

and my foot has hastened to deceit;

⁶(Let me be ^fweighed in a just balance,

and let God know my integrity!)

⁷if my step has turned aside from the way

and ^gmy heart has gone after my eyes,

and if any ^hspot has stuck to my hands,

⁸then let me ⁱsow, and another eat,

and let what grows for me¹ be rooted out.

⁹“If my heart has been enticed toward a woman,

and I have ^jlain in wait at my neighbor’s door,

¹⁰then let my wife ^kgrind for another,

and let others ^lbow down on her.

¹¹For that would be a heinous crime;

that would be an iniquity ^mto be punished by the judges;

¹²for that would be a fire ⁿthat consumes as far as Abaddon,

and it would burn to the root all my increase.

¹³“If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant,

when they brought a complaint against me,

¹⁴what then shall I do when God rises up?

When he ^omakes inquiry, what shall I answer him?

¹⁵Did ^pnot he who made me in the womb make him?

And did not one fashion us in the womb?

¹⁶“If I have ^qwithheld anything that the poor desired,

or have ^rcaused the eyes of the widow to fail,

¹⁷or have eaten my morsel alone,

and the fatherless has not eaten of it

¹⁸(for from my youth the fatherless² grew up with me as with a father,

and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow³),

¹⁹if I have seen anyone ^sperish for ^tlack of clothing,

or the needy without ^tcovering,

²⁰if his body has not ^ublessed me,⁴

and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep,

²¹if I have raised my hand against ^vthe fatherless,

because I saw my help in ^wthe gate,

²²then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder,

and let my arm be broken from its socket.

²³For I was ^xin terror of calamity from God,

and I could not have faced his ^xmajesty.