Job 31
Berean Standard BibleTranslation
Berean Standard Bible
Douay-Rheims Bible, American Edition (1899)
1“I have made a covenant with my eyes. How then could I gaze with desire at a virgin?
1I made a covenant with my eyes, that I would not so much as think upon a virgin.
2For what is the allotment of God from above, or the heritage from the Almighty on high?
2For what part should God from above have in me, and what inheritance the Almighty from on high?
3Does not disaster come to the unjust and calamity to the workers of iniquity?
3Is not destruction to the wicked, and aversion to them that work iniquity?
4Does He not see my ways and count my every step?
4Doth not he consider my ways, and number all my steps?
5If I have walked in falsehood or my foot has rushed to deceit,
5If I have walked in vanity, and my foot hath made haste to deceit:
6let God weigh me with honest scales, that He may know my integrity.
6Let him weigh me in a just balance, and let God know my simplicity.
7If my steps have turned from the path, if my heart has followed my eyes, or if impurity has stuck to my hands,
7If my step hath turned out of the way, and if my heart hath followed my eyes, and if a spot hath cleaved to my hands:
8then may another eat what I have sown, and may my crops be uprooted.
8Then let me sow and let another eat: and let my offspring be rooted out.
9If my heart has been enticed by my neighbor’s wife, or I have lurked at his door,
9If my heart hath been deceived upon a woman, and if I have laid wait at my friend’s door:
10then may my own wife grind grain for another, and may other men sleep with her.
10Let my wife be the harlot of another, and let other men lie with her.
11For that would be a heinous crime, an iniquity to be judged.
11For this is a heinous crime, and a most grievous iniquity.
12For it is a fire that burns down to Abaddon; it would root out my entire harvest.
12It is a fire that devoureth even to destruction, and rooteth up all things that spring.
13If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or maidservant when they made a complaint against me,
13If I have despised to abide judgment with my manservant, or my maidservant, when they had any controversy against me:
14what will I do when God rises to judge? How will I answer when called to account?
14For what shall I do when God shall rise to judge? and when he shall examine, what shall I answer him?
15Did not He who made me in the womb also make them? Did not the same One form us in the womb?
15Did not he that made me in the womb make him also: and did not one and the same form me in the womb?
16If I have denied the desires of the poor or allowed the widow’s eyes to fail,
16If I have denied to the poor what they desired, and have made the eyes of the widow wait:
17if I have eaten my morsel alone, not sharing it with the fatherless—
17If I have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof:
18though from my youth I reared him as would a father, and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow—
18(For from my infancy mercy grew up with me: and it came out with me from my mother’s womb:)
19if I have seen one perish for lack of clothing, or a needy man without a cloak,
19If I have despised him that was perishing for want of clothing, and the poor man that had no covering:
20if his heart has not blessed me for warming him with the fleece of my sheep,
20If his sides have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep:
21if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless because I saw that I had support in the gate,
21If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, even when I saw myself superior in the gate:
22then may my arm fall from my shoulder and be torn from its socket.
22Let my shoulder fall from its joint, and let my arm with its bones be broken.
23For calamity from God terrifies me, and His splendor I cannot overpower.
23For I have always feared God as waves swelling over me, and his weight I was not able to bear.
24If I have put my trust in gold or called pure gold my security,
24If I have thought gold my strength, and have said to fine gold: My confidence:
25if I have rejoiced in my great wealth because my hand had gained so much,
25If I have rejoiced over my great riches, and because my hand had gotten much.
26if I have beheld the sun in its radiance or the moon moving in splendor,
26If I beheld the sun when it shined, and the moon going in brightness:
27so that my heart was secretly enticed and my hand threw a kiss from my mouth,
27And my heart in secret hath rejoiced, and I have kissed my hand with my mouth:
28this would also be an iniquity to be judged, for I would have denied God on high.
28Which is a very great iniquity, and a denial against the most high God.
29If I have rejoiced in my enemy’s ruin, or exulted when evil befell him—
29If I have been glad at the downfall of him that hated me, and have rejoiced that evil had found him.
30I have not allowed my mouth to sin by asking for his life with a curse—
30For I have not given my mouth to sin, by wishing a curse to his soul.
31if the men of my house have not said, ‘Who is there who has not had his fill?’—
31If the men of my tabernacle have not said: Who will give us of his flesh that we may be filled?
32but no stranger had to lodge on the street, for my door has been open to the traveler—
32The stranger did not stay without, my door was open to the traveller.
33if I have covered my transgressions like Adam by hiding my guilt in my heart,
33If as a man I have hid my sin, and have concealed my iniquity in my bosom.
34because I greatly feared the crowds and the contempt of the clans terrified me, so that I kept silent and would not go outside—
34If I have been afraid at a very great multitude, and the contempt of kinsmen hath terrified me: and I have not rather held my peace, and not gone out of the door.
35(Oh, that I had one to hear me! Here is my signature. Let the Almighty answer me; let my accuser compose an indictment.
35Who would grant me a hearer, that the Almighty may hear my desire; and that he himself that judgeth would write a book,
36Surely I would carry it on my shoulder and wear it like a crown.
36That I may carry it on my shoulder, and put it about me as a crown?
37I would give account of all my steps; I would approach Him like a prince.)—
37At every step of mine I would pronounce it, and offer it as to a prince.
38if my land cries out against me and its furrows weep together,
38If my land cry against me, and with it the furrows thereof mourn:
39if I have devoured its produce without payment or broken the spirit of its tenants,
39If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, and have afflicted the soul of the tillers thereof:
40then let briers grow instead of wheat and stinkweed instead of barley.” Thus conclude the words of Job.
40Let thistles grow up to me instead of wheat, and thorns instead of barley.
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