31:1 I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid:

31:2 For what portion of God [is there] from above? and [what] inheritance of the Almighty from on high:

31:3 Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange [punishment] to the workers of iniquity:

31:4 Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps:

31:5 If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit:

31:6 Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine integrity:

31:7 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:

31:8 Then let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted out:

31:9 If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, or [if] I have laid wait at my neighbour' s door:

31:10 Then let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her:

31:11 For this [is] an heinous crime; yea, it [is] an iniquity [to be punished by] the judges:

31:12 For it [is] a fire [that] consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase:

31:13 If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, when they contended with me:

31:14 What then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him:

31:15 Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb:

31:16 If I have withheld the poor from [their] desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail:

31:17 Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof:

31:18 For from my youth he was brought up with me, as [with] a father, and I have guided her from my mother' s womb:

31:19 If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering:

31:20 If his loins have not blessed me, and [if] he were [not] warmed with the fleece of my sheep:

31:21 If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate:

31:22 Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone:

31:23 For destruction [from] God [was] a terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure:

31:24 If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, [Thou art] my confidence:

31:25 If I rejoiced because my wealth [was] great, and because mine hand had gotten much:

31:26 If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking [in] brightness:

31:27 And my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand:

31:28 This also [were] an iniquity [to be punished by] the judge: for I should have denied the God [that is] above:

31:29 If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him:

31:30 Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his soul:

31:31 If the men of my tabernacle said not, Oh that we had of his flesh! we cannot be satisfied:

31:32 The stranger did not lodge in the street: [but] I opened my doors to the traveller:

31:33 If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom:

31:34 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:

31:35 Oh that one would hear me! behold, my desire [is, that] the Almighty would answer me, and [that] mine adversary had written a book:

31:36 Surely I would take it upon my shoulder, [and] bind it [as] a crown to me:

31:37 I would declare unto him the number of my steps; as a prince would I go near unto him:

31:38 If my land cry against me, or that the furrows likewise thereof complain:

31:39 If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life:

31:40 Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended: