Job 31

¹I made a covenant with mine eyes;

²For what is the portion from God above,

³Is it not calamity to the unrighteous,

⁴Doth not he see my ways,

⁵If I have walked with falsehood,

⁶(Let me be weighed in an even balance,

⁷If my step hath turned out of the way,

⁸Then let me sow, and let another eat;

⁹If my heart hath been enticed unto a woman,

¹⁰Then let my wife grind unto another,

¹¹For that were a heinous crime;

¹²For it is a fire that consumeth unto Destruction,

¹³If I have despised the cause of my man-servant or of my maid-servant,

¹⁴What then shall I do when God riseth up?

¹⁵Did not he that made me in the womb make him?

¹⁶If I have withheld the poor from their desire,

¹⁷Or have eaten my morsel alone,

¹⁸(Nay, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father,

¹⁹If I have seen any perish for want of clothing,

²⁰If his loins have not blessed me,

²¹If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless,

²²Then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder-blade,

²³For calamity from God is a terror to me,

²⁴If I have made gold my hope,

²⁵If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great,

²⁶If I have beheld the sun when it shined,

²⁷And my heart hath been secretly enticed,

²⁸This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judges;

²⁹If I have rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me,

³⁰(Yea, I have not suffered my mouth to sin

³¹If the men of my tent have not said,

³²(The sojourner hath not lodged in the street;

³³If like Adam I have covered my transgressions,

³⁴Because I feared the great multitude,

³⁵Oh that I had one to hear me!

³⁶Surely I would carry it upon my shoulder;

³⁷I would declare unto him the number of my steps;

³⁸If my land crieth out against me,

³⁹If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money,

⁴⁰Let thistles grow instead of wheat,