Chapter 31

¹ I made a covenant with mine eyes,

Job 31:1

² Now what portion has God given from above?

Job 31:2

³ Alas! destruction to the unrighteous,

Job 31:3

⁴ Will he not see my way,

Job 31:4

⁵ But if I had gone with scorners,

Job 31:5

⁶ (For I am weighed in a just balance,

Job 31:6

⁷ If my foot has turned aside out of the way,

Job 31:7

⁸ Then let me sow, and let others eat;

Job 31:8

⁹ If my heart has gone forth after another man’s wife,

Job 31:9

¹⁰ Then let my wife also please another,

Job 31:10

¹¹ For the rage of anger is not to be controlled,

Job 31:11

¹² For it is a fire burning on every side,

Job 31:12

¹³ And if too I despised the judgment of my servant or [my] handmaid,

Job 31:13

¹⁴ What then shall I do if the Lord should try me?

Job 31:14

¹⁵ Were not they too formed as I also was formed in the womb?

Job 31:15

¹⁶ But the helpless missed not whatever need they had,

Job 31:16

¹⁷ And if too I ate my morsel alone,

Job 31:17

¹⁸ (For I nourished [them] as a father from my youth,

Job 31:18

¹⁹ And if too I overlooked the naked as he was perishing, and did not clothe him;

Job 31:19

²⁰ And if the poor did not bless me,

Job 31:20

²¹ If I lifted my hand against an orphan,

Job 31:21

²² Let then my shoulder start from the bladebone,

Job 31:22

²³ For the fear of the Lord constrained me,

Job 31:23

²⁴ If I made gold my treasure,

Job 31:24

²⁵ And if too I rejoiced when my wealth was abundant,

Job 31:25

²⁶ (Do we not see the shining sun eclipsed,

Job 31:26

²⁷ And if my heart was secretly deceived,

Job 31:27

²⁸ Let this also then be reckoned to me as the greatest iniquity:

Job 31:28

²⁹ And if too I was glad at the fall of mine enemies,

Job 31:29

³⁰ Let then mine ear hear my curse,

Job 31:30

³¹ And if too my handmaids have often said,

Job 31:31

³² For the stranger did not lodge without,

Job 31:32

³³ Or if too having sinned unintentionally, I hid my sin

Job 31:33

³⁴ (For I did not stand in awe of a great multitude, so as not to declare boldly before them):

Job 31:34

³⁵ (Oh that I had a hearer),

Job 31:35

³⁶ I would place [it] as a chaplet on my shoulders, and read it.

Job 31:36

³⁷ And if not, tearing it up I would return it,

Job 31:37

³⁸ If at any time the land groaned against me,

Job 31:38

³⁹ And if I ate its strength alone without price,

Job 31:39

⁴⁰ Then let the nettle come up to me instead of wheat,

Job 31:40