Job 31:1-23

English Standard Version

⁵ “If I have walked with falsehood
    and my foot has hastened to deceit;
⁶ (Let me be ^(F)weighed in a just balance,
    and let God know my integrity!)
⁷ if my step has turned aside from the way
    and ^(G)my heart has gone after my eyes,
    and if any ^(H)spot has stuck to my hands,
⁸ then let me ^(I)sow, and another eat,
    and let what grows for me^[a] be rooted out.

⁹ “If my heart has been enticed toward a woman,
    and I have ^(J)lain in wait at my neighbor's door,
¹⁰ then let my wife ^(K)grind for another,
    and let others ^(L)bow down on her.
¹¹ For that would be a heinous crime;
    that would be an iniquity ^(M)to be punished by the judges;
¹² for that would be a fire ^(N)that consumes as far as Abaddon,
    and it would burn to the root all my increase.

¹³ “If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant,
    when they brought a complaint against me,
¹⁴ what then shall I do when God rises up?
    When he ^(O)makes inquiry, what shall I answer him?
¹⁵ Did ^(P)not he who made me in the womb make him?
    And did not one fashion us in the womb?

¹⁶ “If I have ^(Q)withheld anything that the poor desired,
    or have ^(R)caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
¹⁷ or have eaten my morsel alone,
    and the fatherless has not eaten of it
¹⁸ (for from my youth the fatherless^[b] grew up with me as with a father,
    and from my mother's womb I guided the widow^[c]),
¹⁹ if I have seen anyone ^(S)perish for ^(T)lack of clothing,
    or the needy without ^(U)covering,
²⁰ if his body has not ^(V)blessed me,^[d]
    and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep,
²¹ if I have raised my hand against ^(W)the fatherless,
    because I saw my help in ^(X)the gate,
²² then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder,
    and let my arm be broken from its socket.
²³ For I was ^(Y)in terror of calamity from God,
    and I could not have faced his ^(Z)majesty.