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ASV: Job 31

Chapters

[1] I made a covenant with mine eyes;

How then should I look upon a virgin?

[2] For what is the portion from God above,

And the heritage from the Almighty on high?

[3] Is it not calamity to the unrighteous,

And disaster to the workers of iniquity?

[4] Doth not he see my ways,

And number all my steps?

[5] If I have walked with falsehood,

And 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 my heart walked after mine eyes,

And if any spot hath cleaved to my hands:

[8] Then let me sow, and let another eat;

Yea, let the produce of my field be rooted out.

[9] If my heart hath been enticed unto a woman,

And I have laid wait at my neighbor’s door;

[10] Then let my wife grind unto another,

And let others bow down upon her.

[11] For that were a heinous crime;

Yea, it were an iniquity to be punished by the judges:

[12] For it is a fire that consumeth unto Destruction,

And would root out all mine increase.

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

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 alone,

And the fatherless hath not eaten thereof

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

And her have I guided from my mother’s womb);

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

Or that the needy had no covering;

[20] If his loins have not blessed me,

And if he hath not been warmed with the fleece of my sheep;

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

Because I saw my help in the gate:

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

And mine arm be broken from the bone.

[23] For calamity from God is a terror to me,

And by reason of his majesty I can do nothing.

[24] If I have made gold my hope,

And have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence;

[25] If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great,

And because my hand had gotten much;

[26] If I have beheld the sun when it shined,

Or the moon walking in brightness,

[27] And my heart hath been secretly enticed,

And my mouth hath kissed my hand:

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

For I should have denied the God that is above.

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

Or lifted up myself when evil found him

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

By asking his life with a curse);

[31] If the men of my tent have not said,

Who can find one that hath not been filled with his meat?

[32] (The sojourner hath not lodged in the street;

But I have opened my doors to the traveller);

[33] If like Adam I have covered my transgressions,

By hiding mine iniquity in my bosom,

[34] 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—

[35] Oh that I had one to hear me!

(Lo, here is my signature, let the Almighty answer me)

And that I had the indictment which mine adversary hath written!

[36] Surely I would carry it upon my shoulder;

I would bind it unto me as a crown:

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

As a prince would I go near unto him.

[38] If my land crieth out against me,

And the furrows thereof weep together;

[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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