Job 31:1-23

New Living Translation

⁵ “Have I lied to anyone
    or deceived anyone?
⁶ Let God weigh me on the scales of justice,
    for he knows my integrity.
⁷ If I have strayed from his pathway,
    or if my heart has lusted for what my eyes have seen,
    or if I am guilty of any other sin,
⁸ then let someone else eat the crops I have planted.
    Let all that I have planted be uprooted.

⁹ “If my heart has been seduced by a woman,
    or if I have lusted for my neighbor’s wife,
¹⁰ then let my wife serve^[a] another man;
    let other men sleep with her.
¹¹ For lust is a shameful sin,
    a crime that should be punished.
¹² It is a fire that burns all the way to hell.^[b]
    It would wipe out everything I own.

¹³ “If I have been unfair to my male or female servants
    when they brought their complaints to me,
¹⁴ how could I face God?
    What could I say when he questioned me?
¹⁵ For God created both me and my servants.
    He created us both in the womb.

¹⁶ “Have I refused to help the poor,
    or crushed the hopes of widows?
¹⁷ Have I been stingy with my food
    and refused to share it with orphans?
¹⁸ No, from childhood I have cared for orphans like a father,
    and all my life I have cared for widows.
¹⁹ Whenever I saw the homeless without clothes
    and the needy with nothing to wear,
²⁰ did they not praise me
    for providing wool clothing to keep them warm?

²¹ “If I raised my hand against an orphan,
    knowing the judges would take my side,
²² then let my shoulder be wrenched out of place!
    Let my arm be torn from its socket!
²³ That would be better than facing God’s judgment.
    For if the majesty of God opposes me, what hope is there?