Chapter 31

  I made a covenant with mine eyes; and how should I fix my regard upon a maid?  

  For what would have been [my] portion of +God from above, and what the heritage of the Almighty from on high?  

  Is not calamity for the unrighteous? and misfortune for the workers of iniquity?  

  Doth not he see my ways, and number all my steps?  

  If I have walked with falsehood, and my foot hath hasted to deceit,  

  (Let me be weighed in an even balance, and +God will take knowledge of my blamelessness;)  

  If my step have turned out of the way, and my heart followed mine eyes, and if any blot cleaveth to my hands;  

  Let me sow, and another eat; and let mine offspring be rooted out.  

  If my heart have been enticed unto a woman, so that I laid wait at my neighbour's door,  

  Let my wife grind for another, and let others bow down upon her.  

  For this is an infamy; yea, it is an iniquity [to be judged by] the judges:  

  For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase.  

  If I have despised the cause of my bondman or of my bondmaid, when they contended with me,  

  What then should I do when ùGod riseth up? and if he visited, what should I answer him?  

  Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not One fashion us in the womb?  

  If I have withheld the poor from [their] desire, or caused the eyes of the widow to fail;  

  Or have eaten my morsel alone, so that the fatherless ate not thereof,  

  (For from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, and I have guided the [widow] from my mother's womb;)  

  If I have seen any perishing for want of clothing, or any needy without covering;  

  If his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my lambs;  

  If I have lifted up my hand against an orphan, because I saw my help in the gate:  

  [Then] let my shoulder fall from the shoulder-blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone!  

  For calamity from ùGod was a terror to me, and by reason of his excellency I was powerless.  

  If I have made gold my hope, or said to the fine gold, My confidence!  

  If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because my hand had gotten much;  

  If I beheld the sun when it shone, or the moon walking in brightness,  

  And my heart have been secretly enticed, so that my mouth kissed my hand:  

  This also would be an iniquity for the judge, for I should have denied the ùGod who is above.  

  If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, and exulted when evil befell him;  

  (Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by asking his life with a curse;)  

  If the men of my tent said not, Who shall find one that hath not been satisfied with his meat? --  

  The stranger did not lodge without; I opened my doors to the pathway.  

  If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom,  

  Because I feared the great multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silence, and went not out of the door, ...  

  Oh that I had one to hear me! Behold my signature: let the Almighty answer me! And let mine opponent write an accusation!  

  Would I not take it upon my shoulder? I would bind it on to me [as] a crown;  

  I would declare unto him the number of my steps; as a prince would I come near to him.  

  If my land cry out against me, and its furrows weep together;  

  If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, and have tormented to death the souls of its owners:  

  Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and tares instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.