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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 alone,
    and the fatherless has not eaten of it
18 (no, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father,
    I have guided her from my mother’s womb);
19 if I have seen any perish for want of clothing,
    or that the needy had no covering;
20 if his heart hasn’t blessed me,
    if he hasn’t been warmed with my sheep’s fleece;
21 if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless,
    because I saw my help in the gate,
22 then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder blade,
    and my arm be broken from the bone.
23 For calamity from God is a terror to me.
    Because of his majesty, I can do nothing.

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16 If I have refused the wishes of the poor
or let the widow’s(A) eyes go blind,
17 if I have eaten my few crumbs alone
without letting the fatherless eat any of it—
18 for from my youth, I raised him as his father,
and since the day I was born[a] I guided the widow—
19 if I have seen anyone dying for lack of clothing
or a needy person without a cloak,(B)
20 if he[b] did not bless me
while warming himself with the fleece from my sheep,
21 if I ever cast my vote[c] against a fatherless child
when I saw that I had support in the city gate,(C)
22 then let my shoulder blade fall from my back,
and my arm be pulled from its socket.
23 For disaster from God terrifies me,
and because of his majesty I could not do these things.(D)

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Footnotes

  1. 31:18 Lit and from my mother’s womb
  2. 31:20 Lit his loins
  3. 31:21 Lit I raise my hand