<TITLE>Job 31</TITLE><BR>Job 31<BR>1 I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?<BR>2 For what portion of God is there from above? and what inheritance of the Almighty from on high?<BR>3 Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity?<BR>4 Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps?<BR>5 If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit;<BR>6 Let me be weighed in an even balance that God may know mine integrity.<BR>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;<BR>8 Then let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted out.<BR>9 If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at my neighbour's door;<BR>10 Then let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her.<BR>11 For this is an heinous crime; yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges.<BR>12 For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase.<BR>13 If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, when they contended with me;<BR>14 What then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him?<BR>15 Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb?<BR>16 If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail;<BR>17 Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof;<BR>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;)<BR>19 If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering;<BR>20 If his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep;<BR>21 If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate:<BR>22 Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone.<BR>23 For destruction from God was a terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure.<BR>24 If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence;<BR>25 If I rejoice because my wealth was great, and because mine hand had gotten much;<BR>26 If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness;<BR>27 And my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand:<BR>28 This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should have denied the God that is above.<BR>29 If I rejoice at the destruction of him that hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him:<BR>30 Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his soul.<BR>31 If the men of my tabernacle said not, Oh that we had of his flesh! we cannot be satisfied.<BR>32 The stranger did not lodge in the street: but I opened my doors to the traveller.<BR>33 If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom:<BR>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?<BR>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.<BR>36 Surely I would take it upon my shoulder, and bind it as a crown to me.<BR>37 I would declare unto him the number of my steps; as a prince would I go near unto him.<BR>38 If my land cry against me, or that the furrows likewise thereof complain;<BR>39 If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life:<BR>40 Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.<BR><BR><BR>