Job 31.6
New International Version

¹ “I made a covenant with my eyes
not to look lustfully at a young woman.

² For what is our lot from God above,
our heritage from the Almighty on high?

³ Is it not ruin for the wicked,
disaster for those who do wrong?

⁴ Does he not see my ways
and count my every step?

⁵ “If I have walked with falsehood
or my foot has hurried after deceit —

⁶ let God weigh me in honest scales
and he will know that I am blameless —

⁷ if my steps have turned from the path,
if my heart has been led by my eyes,
or if my hands have been defiled,

⁸ then may others eat what I have sown,
and may my crops be uprooted.

⁹ “If my heart has been enticed by a woman,
or if I have lurked at my neighbor’s door,

¹⁰ then may my wife grind another man’s grain,
and may other men sleep with her.

¹¹ For that would have been wicked,
a sin to be judged.

¹² It is a fire that burns to Destruction;
it would have uprooted my harvest.

¹³ “If I have denied justice to any of my servants,
whether male or female,
when they had a grievance against me,

¹⁴ what will I do when God confronts me?
What will I answer when called to account?

¹⁵ Did not he who made me in the womb make them?
Did not the same one form us both within our mothers?

¹⁶ “If I have denied the desires of the poor
or let the eyes of the widow grow weary,

¹⁷ if I have kept my bread to myself,
not sharing it with the fatherless —

¹⁸ but from my youth I reared them as a father would,
and from my birth I guided the widow —

¹⁹ if I have seen anyone perishing for lack of clothing,
or the needy without garments,

²⁰ and their hearts did not bless me
for warming them with the fleece from my sheep,

²¹ if I have raised my hand against the fatherless,
knowing that I had influence in court,

²² then let my arm fall from the shoulder,
let it be broken off at the joint.

²³ For I dreaded destruction from God,
and for fear of his splendor I could not do such things.

²⁴ “If I have put my trust in gold
or said to pure gold, ‘You are my security,’

²⁵ if I have rejoiced over my great wealth,
the fortune my hands had gained,

²⁶ if I have regarded the sun in its radiance
or the moon moving in splendor,

²⁷ so that my heart was secretly enticed
and my hand offered them a kiss of homage,

²⁸ then these also would be sins to be judged,
for I would have been unfaithful to God on high.

²⁹ “If I have rejoiced at my enemy’s misfortune
or gloated over the trouble that came to him —

³⁰ I have not allowed my mouth to sin
by invoking a curse against their life —

³¹ if those of my household have never said,
‘Who has not been filled with Job’s meat?’ —

³² but no stranger had to spend the night in the street,
for my door was always open to the traveler —

³³ if I have concealed my sin as people do,
by hiding my guilt in my heart

³⁴ because I so feared the crowd
and so dreaded the contempt of the clans
that I kept silent and would not go outside —

³⁵ (“Oh, that I had someone to hear me!
I sign now my defense — let the Almighty answer me;
let my accuser put his indictment in writing.

³⁶ Surely I would wear it on my shoulder,
I would put it on like a crown.

³⁷ I would give him an account of my every step;
I would present it to him as to a ruler.) —

³⁸ “if my land cries out against me
and all its furrows are wet with tears,

³⁹ if I have devoured its yield without payment
or broken the spirit of its tenants,

⁴⁰ then let briers come up instead of wheat
and stinkweed instead of barley.”
The words of Job are ended.