The Book of Job 31

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1 I made a covenant with mine eyes why then should I think upon a maid ⚑

2 For what portion of God is there from above and what inheritance of the Almighty from on high ⚑

3 Is not destruction to the wicked and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity ⚑

4 Doth not he see my ways and count all my steps ⚑

5 If I have walked with vanity or if my foot hath hasted to deceit ⚑

6 Let me be weighed in an even balance that God may know mine integrity ⚑

7 If my step hath turned out of the way and mine heart walked after mine eyes and if any blot hath cleaved to mine hands ⚑

8 Then let me sow and let another eat yea let my offspring be rooted out ⚑

9 If mine heart have been deceived by a woman or if I have laid wait at my ne hbour’s door ⚑

10 Then let my wife grind unto another and let others bow down upon her ⚑

11 For this is an heinous crime yea it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges ⚑

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

13 If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant when they contended with me ⚑

14 What then shall I do when God riseth up and when he visiteth what shall I answer him ⚑

15 Did not he that made me in the womb make him and did not one fashion us in the womb ⚑

16 If I have withheld the poor from their desire or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail ⚑

17 Or have eaten my morsel myself alone and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof ⚑

18 For from my youth he was brought up with me as with a father and I have guided her from my other’s womb ⚑

19 If I have seen any perish for want of clothing or any poor without covering ⚑

20 If his loins have not blessed me and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep ⚑

21 If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless when I saw my help in the gate ⚑

22 Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade and mine arm be broken from the bone ⚑

23 For destruction from God was a terror to me and by reason of his highness I could not endure ⚑

24 If I have made gold my hope or have said to the fine gold Thou art my confidence ⚑

25 If I rejoiced because my wealth was great and because mine hand had gotten much ⚑

26 If I beheld the sun when it shined or the moon walking in brightness ⚑

27 And my heart hath been secretly enticed or my mouth hath kissed my hand ⚑

28 This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge for I should have denied the God that is above ⚑

29 If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me or lifted up myself when evil found him ⚑

30 Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his soul ⚑

31 If the men of my tabernacle said not Oh that we had of his flesh we cannot be satisfied ⚑

32 The stranger did not lodge in the street but I opened my doors to the traveller ⚑

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

34 Did I fear a great multitude or did the contempt of families terrify me that I kept silence and went not out of the door ⚑

35 Oh that one would hear me behold my desire is that the Almighty would answer me and that mine adversary had written a book ⚑

36 Surely I would take it upon my shoulder and bind it as a crown to me ⚑

37 I would declare unto him the number of my steps as a prince would I go near unto him ⚑

38 If my land cry against me or that the furrows likewise thereof complain ⚑

39 If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life ⚑

40 Let thistles grow instead of wheat and cockle instead of barley The words of Job are ended ⚑

King James Version (1769) with Apocrypha · Crosswire Bible Society / eBible.org (standard text of 1769) · Public Domain

Cross-references: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge · public domain