Job 31
The Voice
31 Job: I have made a sacred pledge with my eyes.
How then could I stare at a young woman with desire?
2 And what share has God set aside for us from above?
What is the heritage we can expect from the lofty God, the Highest One?[a]
3 Has it not been made clear these many years?
Is there not supposed to be punishment poured out on the wicked
and disaster on those wrongdoers?
4 Does God not see the paths of my choosing;
does He not count every single step I take?
In this speech, Job is actually recording his deposition; he is calling God to come answer the charges he is laying out. Using a rigid format, Job explains away eight areas of potential sin in his life. So certain is Job that he is innocent of wickedness, he actually pronounces curses upon himself if the all-knowing God finds him guilty of any of the sins. This ethereal courtroom procedure would be like any human going to a court to explain how he did not violate the law of the land and prefacing his testimony with a proposed sentence of the death penalty if the judgment goes against him. Job will soon learn that it is never appropriate to assume he knows more about justice than God, the very author of justice.
Job: 5 If I have walked alongside lies
or if my feet have rushed toward deception,
6 Then let God weigh me on a truly balanced set of scales.
He will know and see my integrity.
7 If my steps have veered off God’s prescribed path
or if my heart has followed any of the evil my eyes have seen
or if my hands are soiled,
8 Then let me sow, but then let another one eat the produce!
Let my sprouts be pulled up by their roots!
9 If my heart has been seduced by another woman
or if I have waited by a friend’s door for a liaison with his wife,
10 Then let my wife be taken by another,
to grind his grain or do whatever he pleases,
And let other men kneel down over her
11 because adultery is such a lewd, scandalous act,
an offense punishable by the court,
12 For it is a fire that burns until the destruction is complete.
Had I done it, it would have undone all that I had gained.
13 If I have refused justice to my servants—either male or female—
when they have had cause for dispute with me,
14 Then what ought I do when God stands to judge me?
How will I answer when He calls me to account for my actions?
15 Did not God, who made me in my mother’s womb, make my servants as well?
Is He not the same One who made us each in our own mother’s womb?
16 If I have stood between the poor and the object of their desire,
if I have caused a widow to lose her love of life,
17 If I have eaten my food alone
and not shared it with the hungry orphan
18 (Indeed, from as far back as I can remember, I have cared for them all—
from my youth, been a father to the orphan;
from my own birth, cared for the widow),
19 If I have idly watched anyone die from exposure simply due to a lack of clothing
or seen the poor without any kind of covering,
20 If ever people in such conditions did not physically bless and thank me
for warming them up with the fleeces of my own sheep,
21 If I ever used my civic strength to condemn the fatherless
simply because I knew I had allies in the courts;
22 Then let my arm be pulled from its socket!
Let my forearm be snapped off at the elbow for raising it against the orphan!
23 See, I have always dreaded the kind of disaster wrought by God;
I was never able to withstand His majesty.
24 If I have put my confidence in my stash of gold,
if I have trusted in a metal so well-refined,
25 If I have exulted in my immense wealth
(for I had accumulated so much),
26 If I saw the sun in its radiant glory
or the moon sliding across the sky in its splendor,
27 If such sights secretly seduced my heart
and made my hand throw kisses to the false gods of sun and moon,
28 Then these things, too, would have been punishable offenses
because they would have shown me untrue to the God above.
29 Have I gloated at my enemy’s downfall
or been excited when he encountered evil?
30 No. I have not permitted my mouth to sin
by uttering a curse against his very life.
31 Have my guests ever left my dwelling saying,
“Anyone still hungry? Who didn’t get enough to eat?”
32 Have I ever left the foreigner to sleep outside?
No. My door was always open to the traveler.
33 If I have covered my sin as people do
or attempted to hide my wrongdoing in the recesses of my heart
34 (Because of my fear of the opinions of the crowd
or my fright at the disdain of my family)
And kept silent hiding indoors away from all possible discovery of flaws;
35 (if only someone were listening!)
Now, here to these oaths, these curses,
I make my signature!
Let the Highest One answer me!
Let my adversary put his case in writing!
36 If He does, I would place it on my shoulder for all to see;
I would put it on my head and wear it like a crown.
37 I would offer Him an account of the steps I’ve taken along my life’s path
and approach Him directly like a prince.
38 If my land cries out against me,
if my furrows gather together to weep over my mistreatment of them,
39 If I have eaten the fruit of the land
without payment to those who tend it
or exasperated the lives of its tenants, the farmers, in pursuit of greater harvest, or in poor management of them;
40 Then let thistles grow instead of wheat
and stinkweed instead of barley.
This concludes the words of Job.
Footnotes
- 31:2 Hebrew, Shaddai
Iyov 31
Orthodox Jewish Bible
31 I made a brit (covenant) with mine eyes; how then look I upon a betulah?
2 For what chelek of Eloah is there from above? And what nachalah of Shaddai from on high?
3 Is not destruction to the wicked? And a disaster to the poalei aven (workers of wrong)?
4 Doth not He see my derech, and count all my steps?
5 If I have walked with shav (vanity, falsehood), or if my regel hath hasted to mirmah (deceit),
6 Let me be weighed in scales of tzedek that Eloah may know mine tom (integrity).
7 If my step hath turned out of the derech, and mine lev walked after mine eyes, and if any mum hath cleaved to mine hands,
8 Then let me sow, and let acher (another) eat; yea, let my harvest be uprooted.
9 If mine lev have been deceived by an isha, or if I have lurked at petach (doorway) of my re’a;
10 Then let my isha grind for another, and let another kneel over her.
11 For this is a heinous crime; yea, it is an avon to be brought before judges.
12 For it is an eish that consumeth to Abaddon, and would root out all mine increase.
13 If I did despise the mishpat (cause) of my eved or of my amah, when they contended with me,
14 What then shall I do when El riseth up? And when He visiteth, what shall I answer Him?
15 Did not He that made me in the beten make them? And did not Echad fashion us in the rechem?
16 If I have withheld the poor from their chefetz (desire), or have caused the eyes of the almanah to grow weary,
17 Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the yatom hath not eaten thereof;
18 (For from my youth he was brought up with me, as with an av, and I have guided her from beten immi;)
19 If I have seen any oved (one perishing) for want of clothing, or any evyon (needy) without covering,
20 If his heart did not bless me for warming him with the giz (fleece) of my sheep,
21 If I have lifted up my yad against the yatom, when I saw my influence in the sha’ar (gate, court);
22 Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder, and mine zero’a be broken from its socket.
23 For destruction from El was a pachad to me, and by reason of His majesty I could not endure.
24 If I have made zahav my hope, or have said to the fine gold, Thou art my security,
25 If I rejoice because my wealth was rav (great), and because mine yad had gotten much,
26 If I beheld the ohr when it shined, or the yarei’ach moving in splendor,
27 And my lev hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my yad [in heathen worship];
28 This also were an avon to be punished by the judge; for then I would have been unfaithful, denying El that is on high.
29 If I rejoice at the misfortune of him that hated me, or gloated when rah found him,
30 Neither have I allowed my mouth to sin by invoking a curse to his nefesh.
31 Have the men of my ohel not said, Where can we find one who has not been sated with his basar (meat)?
32 The stranger did not spend the night in the street, but I opened my delet to the ger.
33 If I concealed my peysha like Adam, by hiding mine avon in my heart,
34 Did I fear a great multitude, or did the contempt of mishpekhot terrify me, that I kept silence, and went not out of doors?
35 Oh that one would hear me! See, my tav [signature], that Shaddai would answer me, and that mine adversary had written a sefer [of indictment];
36 Surely I would carry it upon my shoulder, and bind it to me like atarot (crowns).
37 I would declare unto Him the number of my steps; like a nagid (prince) would I go near unto Him.
38 If my adamah cry against me, or if the furrows had wept together,
39 If I have eaten the yield thereof without kesef (payment), or have broken the nefesh of the tenants thereof,
40 Let thistles grow instead of chittim (wheat), and weed instead of barley. The divrei Iyov are ended.
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