Job 31
La Biblia de las Américas
Job afirma su integridad
31 Hice un pacto con mis ojos,
¿cómo podía entonces mirar a una virgen(A)?
2 ¿Y cuál es la porción de Dios desde arriba,
o la heredad del Todopoderoso[a](B) desde las alturas?
3 ¿No es la calamidad(C) para el injusto,
y el infortunio para los que obran iniquidad(D)?
4 ¿No ve Él mis caminos,
y cuenta todos mis pasos(E)?
5 Si he caminado con la mentira,
y si mi pie se ha apresurado tras el engaño(F),
6 que Él me pese en balanzas de justicia(G),
y que Dios conozca mi integridad(H).
7 Si mi paso se ha apartado del camino(I),
si mi corazón se ha ido tras mis ojos,
y si alguna mancha se ha pegado en mis manos[b](J),
8 que yo siembre y otro coma(K),
y sean arrancadas mis cosechas[c](L).
9 Si mi corazón fue seducido por mujer,
o he estado al acecho a la puerta de mi prójimo(M),
10 que muela para otro mi mujer(N),
y otros se encorven sobre ella(O).
11 Porque eso sería una infamia(P),
y una iniquidad castigada por los jueces(Q);
12 porque sería fuego que consume(R) hasta el Abadón[d](S),
y arrancaría toda mi ganancia[e](T).
13 Si he menospreciado el derecho de mi siervo o de mi sierva
cuando presentaron queja contra mí(U),
14 ¿qué haré cuando Dios se levante?
Y cuando Él me pida cuentas, ¿qué le responderé?
15 ¿Acaso aquel que me hizo a mí en el seno materno, no lo hizo también a él?
¿No fue uno mismo el que nos formó en la matriz(V)?
16 Si he impedido a los pobres(W) su deseo,
o he hecho desfallecer los ojos de la viuda(X),
17 o si he comido mi bocado solo,
y el huérfano(Y) no ha comido de él(Z)
18 (aunque desde mi juventud él creció conmigo como con un padre,
y a la viuda la guié desde mi infancia[f]);
19 si he visto a alguno perecer por falta de ropa(AA),
y sin abrigo al necesitado(AB),
20 si sus lomos no me han expresado gratitud[g],
pues no se ha calentado con el vellón de mis ovejas;
21 si he alzado contra el huérfano(AC) mi mano,
porque vi que yo tenía apoyo[h] en la puerta[i](AD),
22 que mi hombro se caiga de la coyuntura[j],
y mi brazo se quiebre(AE) en el codo[k].
23 Porque el castigo de Dios(AF) es terror para mí,
y ante su majestad[l](AG) nada puedo hacer.
24 Si he puesto en el oro mi confianza,
y he dicho al oro fino: Tú eres mi seguridad(AH);
25 si me he alegrado porque mi riqueza era grande,
y porque mi mano había adquirido mucho(AI);
26 si he mirado al sol[m] cuando brillaba,
o a la luna marchando en esplendor(AJ),
27 y fue mi corazón seducido en secreto,
y mi mano tiró un beso de mi boca[n],
28 eso también hubiera sido iniquidad que merecía juicio[o](AK),
porque habría negado al Dios de lo alto(AL).
29 ¿Acaso me he alegrado en la destrucción de mi enemigo,
o me he regocijado[p] cuando el mal le sobrevino(AM)?
30 No[q], no he permitido que mi boca peque[r]
pidiendo su vida(AN) en una maldición(AO).
31 ¿Acaso no han dicho los hombres de mi tienda:
«¿Quién puede hallar[s] a alguno que no se haya saciado con su carne(AP)?»?
32 El forastero no pasa la noche afuera,
porque al viajero[t] he abierto mis puertas.
33 ¿Acaso he cubierto mis transgresiones como Adán[u],
ocultando en mi seno mi iniquidad(AQ),
34 porque temí a la gran multitud(AR),
o el desprecio de las familias me aterró,
y guardé silencio y no salí de mi puerta?
35 ¡Quién me diera que alguien me oyera!
He aquí mi firma[v].
¡Que me responda el Todopoderoso[w](AS)!
Y la acusación que ha escrito mi adversario(AT),
36 ciertamente yo la llevaría sobre mi hombro,
y me la ceñiría como una corona.
37 Del número de mis pasos yo le daría cuenta(AU),
como a un príncipe(AV) me acercaría a Él.
38 Si mi tierra clama contra mí,
y sus surcos lloran juntos(AW);
39 si he comido su fruto[x] sin dinero(AX),
o si he causado que sus dueños pierdan sus vidas[y](AY),
40 ¡que en lugar de trigo crezcan[z] abrojos(AZ),
y en lugar de cebada hierba maloliente!
Aquí terminan las palabras de Job.
Footnotes
- Job 31:2 Heb., Shaddai
- Job 31:7 Lit., palmas
- Job 31:8 O, arrancados mis vástagos
- Job 31:12 I.e., lugar de destrucción
- Job 31:12 O, todo mi producto
- Job 31:18 Lit., el vientre de mi madre
- Job 31:20 Lit., bendecido
- Job 31:21 Lit., mi ayuda
- Job 31:21 I.e., de la ciudad
- Job 31:22 Lit., del hombro o de la espalda
- Job 31:22 Lit., desde el hueso de la parte superior del brazo
- Job 31:23 Lit., exaltación
- Job 31:26 Lit., a la luz
- Job 31:27 Lit., y mi mano besó mi boca
- Job 31:28 Lit., jueces
- Job 31:29 Lit., levantado o vanagloriado
- Job 31:30 Lit., Y
- Job 31:30 Lit., dado mi paladar al pecado
- Job 31:31 Lit., dar
- Job 31:32 En el T.M., camino
- Job 31:33 O, la humanidad
- Job 31:35 Lit., marca
- Job 31:35 Heb., Shaddai
- Job 31:39 Lit., fuerza
- Job 31:39 Lit., que el alma de sus dueños expire
- Job 31:40 Lit., salgan
Job 31
Easy-to-Read Version
31 “I made an agreement with my eyes
not to look at a young woman in a way that would make me want her.
2 What does God above have for us?
How does God All-Powerful repay people from his home high in heaven?[a]
3 He sends trouble to the wicked
and disaster to those who do wrong.
4 God is the one who knows what I do
and sees every step I take.
5 “I have not lied to anyone.
I never tried to cheat people.
6 If God would use accurate scales,[b]
he would know that I am innocent.
7 If I ever stepped off the right path,
if my eyes led my heart to do evil,
or if my hands are dirty with sin,
8 then let others eat what I planted.
Let my crops be pulled up by the roots.
9 “If I have desired another woman
or waited at my neighbor’s door to sin with his wife,
10 then let my wife serve someone else,
and let other men sleep with her.
11 To do such a thing would be shameful,
a sin that must be punished.
12 Such sin is like a fire that burns until it destroys everything.
It would completely ruin my life’s work.
13 “If I refused to be fair to my slaves
when they had a complaint against me,
14 then what will I do when I must face God?
What will I say when he asks me to explain what I did?
15 The one who made me in my mother’s womb also made them.
God shaped us all inside our mothers.
16 “I have never refused to help the poor.
I always gave widows what they needed.
17 I have never been selfish with my food.
I shared what I had with orphans.
18 All my life I have been like a father to orphans
and have taken care of widows.
19 Whenever I found people suffering because they didn’t have clothes
or saw a poor man with no coat,
20 I always gave them something to wear.
I used the wool from my own sheep to make them warm.
And they thanked me with all their heart.
21 I never threatened an orphan,
even when I knew I had support in court.[c]
22 If I ever did that, may my arm be pulled from its socket
and fall from my shoulder!
23 But I didn’t do any of these bad things.
I fear God’s punishment too much.
His majesty scares me.[d]
24 “I have never trusted in riches.
I never said even to pure gold, ‘You are my hope.’
25 I have been wealthy,
but that didn’t make me proud.
I earned a lot of money,
but that is not what made me happy.
26 I have never worshiped the bright sun
or the beautiful moon.
27 I was never foolish enough
to worship the sun and the moon.
28 This is also a sin that must be punished.
If I had worshiped them, I would have been unfaithful to God All-Powerful.
29 “I have never been happy
when my enemies were destroyed.
I have never laughed at my enemies
when bad things happened to them.
30 I have never let my mouth sin by cursing my enemies
and wishing for them to die.
31 The people in my house know that
I have never let anyone go hungry.
32 I always invited strangers into my home
so that they would not have to sleep in the streets.
33 I have not tried to hide my sins as some people do.
I have never hidden my guilt.
34 I was never so afraid of what people might say or of making enemies
that I kept my sins secret and avoided going out.
35 “How I wish someone would listen to me!
I will sign my name to all I have said.
Now let God All-Powerful answer me.
Let him make a list of what he thinks I did wrong.
36 I would wear it around my neck.
I would put it on my head like a crown.
37 Then I could explain everything I have done.
I could come to God with my head held high like a prince.
38 “I did not use my land in a wrong way.
I never caused it to suffer.
39 I always paid the workers for the food I got from the land.
I never let any of them starve.
40 If I ever did any of these bad things,
let thorns and weeds grow in my fields instead of wheat and barley!”
Job’s words are finished.
Footnotes
- Job 31:2 Or possibly, “I made an agreement with my eyes not to look with desire at the Virgin or the sacred things that belong to God All-Powerful.” Here, “the Virgin” refers to a goddess worshiped by the Canaanites.
- Job 31:6 accurate scales Literally, “scales of righteousness.” As a wordplay, this could mean either “accurate scales” or “scales that show a person is good.”
- Job 31:21 Or “I never shook my fist at an orphan who was at the gate asking for help.”
- Job 31:23 His majesty … me Or “I could not stand before his majesty.”
Job 31
King James Version
31 I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?
2 For what portion of God is there from above? and what inheritance of the Almighty from on high?
3 Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity?
4 Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps?
5 If I have walked with vanity, or if 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 mine heart walked after mine eyes, and if any blot hath cleaved to mine hands;
8 Then let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted out.
9 If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at my neighbour's door;
10 Then let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her.
11 For this is an heinous crime; yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges.
12 For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase.
13 If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, 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 myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof;
18 (For from my youth he was brought up with me, as with a father, and I have guided her from my mother's womb;)
19 If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering;
20 If his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep;
21 If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate:
22 Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone.
23 For destruction from God was a terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure.
24 If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence;
25 If I rejoice because my wealth was great, and because mine hand had gotten much;
26 If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness;
27 And my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand:
28 This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should have denied the God that is above.
29 If I rejoice at the destruction of him that hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him:
30 Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his soul.
31 If the men of my tabernacle said not, Oh that we had of his flesh! we cannot be satisfied.
32 The stranger did not lodge in the street: but I opened my doors to the traveller.
33 If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom:
34 Did I fear a great multitude, or did the contempt of families terrify me, that I kept silence, and went not out of the door?
35 Oh that one would hear me! behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, and that mine adversary had written a book.
36 Surely I would take it upon my shoulder, and bind it as a crown to me.
37 I would declare unto him the number of my steps; as a prince would I go near unto him.
38 If my land cry against me, or that the furrows likewise thereof complain;
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.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International