Job 31

²For what is the portion from God above,

³Is it not calamity to the unrighteous,

⁴Doesn’t he see my ways,

⁵“If I have walked with falsehood,

⁶(let me be weighed in an even balance,

⁷if my step has turned out of the way,

⁸then let me sow, and let another eat.

⁹“If my heart has been enticed to a woman,

¹⁰then let my wife grind for another,

¹¹For that would be a heinous crime.

¹²for it is a fire that consumes to destruction,

¹³“If I have despised the cause of my male servant

¹⁴what then will I do when God rises up?

¹⁵Didn’t he who made me in the womb make him?

¹⁶“If I have withheld the poor from their desire,

¹⁷or have eaten my morsel alone,

¹⁸(no, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father,

¹⁹if I have seen any perish for want of clothing,

²⁰if his heart hasn’t blessed me,

²¹if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless,

²²then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder blade,

²³For calamity from God is a terror to me.

²⁴“If I have made gold my hope,

²⁵If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great,

²⁶if I have seen the sun when it shined,

²⁷and my heart has been secretly enticed,

²⁸this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges,

²⁹“If I have rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me,

³⁰(I have certainly not allowed my mouth to sin

³¹if the men of my tent have not said,

³²(the foreigner has not camped in the street,

³³if like Adam I have covered my transgressions,

³⁴because I feared the great multitude,

³⁵oh that I had one to hear me!

³⁶Surely I would carry it on my shoulder,

³⁷I would declare to him the number of my steps.

³⁸If my land cries out against me,

³⁹if I have eaten its fruits without money,

⁴⁰let briers grow instead of wheat,