31:1 I DICTATED a covenant (an agreement) to my eyes; how then could I look [lustfully] upon a girl? |
31:2 For what portion should I have from God above [if I were lewd], and what heritage from the Almighty on high? |
31:3 Does not calamity [justly] befall the unrighteous, and disaster the workers of iniquity? |
31:4 Does not [God] see my ways and count all my steps? |
31:5 If I have walked with falsehood {or} vanity, or if my foot has hastened to deceit-- |
31:6 Oh, let me be weighed in a just balance {and} let Him weigh me, that God may know my integrity! |
31:7 If my step has turned out of [God's] way, and my heart has gone the way my eyes [covetously] invited, and if any spot has stained my hands with guilt, |
31:8 Then let me sow and let another eat; yes, let the produce of my field {or} my offspring be rooted out. |
31:9 If my heart has been deceived {and} I made a fool by a woman, or if I have [covetously] laid wait at my neighbor's door [until his departure], |
31:10 Then let my wife grind [meal, like a bondslave] for another, and let others bow down upon her. |
31:11 For [adultery] is a heinous {and} chief crime, an iniquity [to demand action by] the judges {and} punishment. |
31:12 For [uncontrolled passion] is a fire which consumes to Abaddon (to destruction, ruin, and the place of final torment); [that fire once lighted would rage until all is consumed] and would burn to the root all my [life's] increase. |
31:13 If I have despised {and} rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant when they contended {or} brought a complaint against me, |
31:14 What then shall I do when God rises up [to judge]? When He visits [to inquire of me], what shall I answer Him? |
31:15 Did not He Who made me in the womb make [my servant]? And did not One fashion us both in the womb? |
31:16 If I have withheld from the poor {and} needy what they desired, or have caused the eyes of the widow to look in vain [for relief], |
31:17 Or have eaten my morsel alone and have not shared it with the fatherless-- |
31:18 No, but from my youth [the fatherless] grew up with me as a father, and I have been [the widow's] guide from my mother's womb-- |
31:19 If I have seen anyone perish for want of clothing, or any poor person without covering, |
31:20 If his loins have not blessed me [for clothing them], and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep, |
31:21 If I have lifted my hand against the fatherless when I saw [that the judges would be favorable and be] my help at the [council] gate, |
31:22 Then let my shoulder fall away from my shoulder blade, and my arm be broken from its socket. |
31:23 For calamity from God was a terror to me, and because of His majesty I could not endure [to face Him] {and} could do nothing. |
31:24 If I have made gold my trust {and} hope or have said to fine gold, You are my confidence, |
31:25 If I rejoiced because my wealth was great and because my [powerful] hand [alone] had gotten much, |
31:26 If I beheld [as an object of worship] the sunlight when it shone or the moon walking in its brightness, |
31:27 And my heart has been secretly enticed by them or my mouth has kissed my hand [in homage to them], |
31:28 This also would have been [a heinous and principal] iniquity to demand the judges' action {and} punishment, for I would have denied {and} been false to the God Who is above. |
31:29 If I rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me or lifted myself up [in malicious triumph] when evil overtook him-- |
31:30 No, I have let my mouth sin neither by cursing my enemy nor by praying that he might die-- |
31:31 [Just ask] if the men of my tent will not say, Who can find one in need who has not been satisfied with food he gave them?-- |
31:32 The temporary resident has not lodged in the street, but I have opened my door to the wayfaring man-- |
31:33 If like Adam {or} like [other] men I have concealed my transgressions, by hiding my iniquity in my bosom |
31:34 Because I feared the great multitude and the contempt of families terrified me so that I kept silence and did not go out of the door-- |
31:35 Oh, for a hearing! Oh, for an answer from the Almighty! Let my adversary write out His indictment [and put His vague accusations in tangible form] in a book! |
31:36 Surely I would [proudly] bear it on my shoulder and wind the scroll about my head as a diadem. |
31:37 I would count out to Him the number of my steps [with every detail of my life], approaching His presence as a prince-- |
31:38 For if my land has cried out against me and its furrows have complained together with tears [that I have no right to them], |
31:39 If I have eaten its fruits without paying for them or have caused its [rightful] owners to breathe their last, |
31:40 Let thistles grow instead of wheat and cockleburs instead of barley. The [controversial] words of Job [with his friends] are ended. |