Bible, King James Version
Job
Job.31
[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 neighbour'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 mother'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.
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