31 I dictated a covenant (an agreement) to my eyes; how then could I look [lustfully] upon a girl?

² For what portion should I have from God above [if I were lewd], and what heritage from the Almighty on high?

³ Does not calamity [justly] befall the unrighteous, and disaster the workers of iniquity?

⁴ Does not [God] see my ways and count all my steps?

⁵ If I have walked with falsehood or vanity, or if my foot has hastened to deceit—

⁶ Oh, let me be weighed in a just balance and let Him weigh me, that God may know my integrity!

⁷ If my step has turned out of [God’s] way, and my heart has gone the way my eyes [covetously] invited, and if any spot has stained my hands with guilt,

⁸ Then let me sow and let another eat; yes, let the produce of my field or my offspring be rooted out.

⁹ If my heart has been deceived and I made a fool by a woman, or if I have [covetously] laid wait at my neighbor’s door [until his departure],

¹⁰ Then let my wife grind [meal, like a bondslave] for another, and let others bow down upon her.

¹¹ For [adultery] is a heinous and chief crime, an iniquity [to demand action by] the judges and punishment.^(A)

¹² For [uncontrolled passion] is a fire which consumes to Abaddon (to destruction, ruin, and the place of final torment); [that fire once lighted would rage until all is consumed] and would burn to the root all my [life’s] increase.

¹³ If I have despised and rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant when they contended or brought a complaint against me,

¹⁴ What then shall I do when God rises up [to judge]? When He visits [to inquire of me], what shall I answer Him?^(B)

¹⁵ Did not He Who made me in the womb make [my servant]? And did not One fashion us both in the womb?^(C)

¹⁶ If I have withheld from the poor and needy what they desired, or have caused the eyes of the widow to look in vain [for relief],

¹⁷ Or have eaten my morsel alone and have not shared it with the fatherless—

¹⁸ No, but from my youth [the fatherless] grew up with me as a father, and I have been [the widow’s] guide from my mother’s womb—

¹⁹ If I have seen anyone perish for want of clothing, or any poor person without covering,

²⁰ If his loins have not blessed me [for clothing them], and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep,

²¹ If I have lifted my hand against the fatherless when I saw [that the judges would be favorable and be] my help at the [council] gate,

²² Then let my shoulder fall away from my shoulder blade, and my arm be broken from its socket.

²³ For calamity from God was a terror to me, and because of His majesty I could not endure [to face Him] and could do nothing.^(D)

²⁴ If I have made gold my trust and hope or have said to fine gold, You are my confidence,

²⁵ If I rejoiced because my wealth was great and because my [powerful] hand [alone] had gotten much,

²⁶ If I beheld [as an object of worship] the sunlight when it shone or the moon walking in its brightness,

²⁷ And my heart has been secretly enticed by them or my mouth has kissed my hand [in homage to them],

²⁸ This also would have been [a heinous and principal] iniquity to demand the judges’ action and punishment, for I would have denied and been false to the God Who is above.^(E)

²⁹ If I rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me or lifted myself up [in malicious triumph] when evil overtook him—

³⁰ No, I have let my mouth sin neither by cursing my enemy nor by praying that he might die—

³¹ [Just ask] if the men of my tent will not say, Who can find one in need who has not been satisfied with food he gave them?—

³² The temporary resident has not lodged in the street, but I have opened my door to the wayfaring man—

³³ If like Adam or like [other] men I have concealed my transgressions, by hiding my iniquity in my bosom

³⁴ Because I feared the great multitude and the contempt of families terrified me so that I kept silence and did not go out of the door—

³⁵ Oh, for a hearing! Oh, for an answer from the Almighty! Let my adversary write out His indictment [and put His vague accusations in tangible form] in a book!

³⁶ Surely I would [proudly] bear it on my shoulder and wind the scroll about my head as a diadem.

³⁷ I would count out to Him the number of my steps [with every detail of my life], approaching His presence as a prince—

³⁸ For if my land has cried out against me and its furrows have complained together with tears [that I have no right to them],

³⁹ If I have eaten its fruits without paying for them or have caused its [rightful] owners to breathe their last,

⁴⁰ Let thistles grow instead of wheat and cockleburs instead of barley. The [controversial] words of Job [with his friends] are ended.