Book of Job, Chapter 31
Job 31 NWT - New World TranslationChapter 31 of Job—New World Translation (NWT)
- ¶ “A covenant I have concluded with my eyes.1
So how could I show myself attentive to a virgin?2 - ¶ And what portion is there from God[a] above,3
Or inheritance from the Almighty from on high? - ¶ Is there not disaster for a wrongdoer,4
And misfortune for those practicing what is hurtful? - ¶ Does he not himself see my ways5
And count even all my steps? - ¶ If I have walked with [men of] untruth,6
And my foot hastens to deception,7 - ¶ He will weigh me in accurate scales[b]8
And God[c] will get to know my integrity.9 - ¶ If my stepping deviates from the way,10
Or my heart has walked merely after my eyes,11
Or any defect has stuck in my own palms,12 - ¶ Let me sow seed and someone else eat,13
And let my own descendants be rooted out. - ¶ If my heart has been enticed toward a woman,14
And I kept lying in wait15 at the very entranceway of my companion, - ¶ Let my wife do the grinding for another man,
And over her let other men kneel down.16 - ¶ For that would be loose conduct,
And that would be an error for [attention by] the justices.17 - ¶ For that is a fire that would eat clear to destruction,[d]18
And among all my produce it would take root. - ¶ If I used to refuse the judgment of my slave man
Or of my slave girl in their case at law with me, - ¶ Then what can I do when God[e] rises up?
And when he calls for an accounting, what can I answer him?19 - ¶ Did not the One making me in the belly make him,20
And did not just One proceed to prepare us in the womb? - ¶ If I used to hold back the lowly ones from [their] delight,21
And the eyes of the widow I would cause to fail,22 - ¶ And I used to eat my morsel by myself,
While the fatherless boy did not eat from it23 - ¶ (For from my youth he grew up with me as with a father,
And from the belly of my mother I kept leading her); - ¶ If I used to see anyone perishing from having no garment,24
Or that the poor one had no covering; - ¶ If his loins did not bless me,25
Nor from the shorn wool26 of my young rams he would warm himself; - ¶ If I waved my hand to and fro against the fatherless boy,27
When I would see [need of] my assistance in the gate,28 - ¶ Let my own shoulder blade fall from its shoulder,
And let my own arm be broken from its upper bone. - ¶ For disaster from God[f] was a dread to me,
And against his dignity29 I could not hold out. - ¶ If I have put gold[g] as my confidence,
Or to gold[h] I have said, ‘You are my trust!’30 - ¶ If I used to rejoice because my property was much,31
And because my hand had found a lot of things;32 - ¶ If I used to see the light when it would flash forth,
Or the precious moon walking along,33 - ¶ And my heart began to be enticed in secrecy34
And my hand proceeded to kiss my mouth,[i] - ¶ That too would be an error for [attention by] the justices,
For I should have denied the [true] God above. - ¶ If I used to rejoice at the extinction of one intensely hating me,35
Or I felt excited[j] because evil had found him— - ¶ And I did not allow my palate to sin
By asking for an oath against his soul.36 - ¶ If the men of my tent did not say,
‘Who can produce anyone that has not been satisfied from food[k] of his?’37— - ¶ Outside no alien resident would spend the night;38
My doors I kept open to the path.[l] - ¶ If like an earthling man[m] I covered over my transgressions39
By hiding my error in my shirt pocket— - ¶ Because I would suffer a shock at a large crowd,
Or the contempt itself of families would terrorize me
And I would keep silent, I would not go out of the entrance. - ¶ O that I had someone listening to me,40
That according to my signature[n] the Almighty himself would answer me!41
Or that the individual[o] in the case at law with me had written a document itself! - ¶ Surely upon my shoulder I would carry it;
I would bind it around me like a grand crown. - ¶ The number of my steps I would tell him;42
Like a leader I would approach him. - ¶ If against me my own ground would cry for aid,
And together its furrows themselves would weep; - ¶ If its fruitage[p] I have eaten without money,43
And the soul of its owners I have caused to pant,44 - ¶ Instead of wheat let the thorny weed go forth,45
And instead of barley stinking weeds.”
¶ The words of Job have come to an end.
FOOTNOTES
- ^ “God.” Heb., ʼElohʹah; Gr., ho The·osʹ.
- ^ Lit., “in scales of righteousness.”
- ^ “God.” Heb., ʼElohʹah; LXX, “Jehovah.”
- ^ “Destruction.” Heb., ʼavad·dohnʹ. See 26:6 ftn.
- ^ “God.” Heb., ʼEl.
- ^ “God.” Heb., ʼEl; Gr., Ky·riʹou, “Jehovah.”
- ^ “Gold.” Heb., za·havʹ.
- ^ “Or to gold.” Heb., welak·keʹthem. See 28:16 ftn.
- ^ Apparently alluding to throwing a kiss with the hand in an idolatrous practice. Kissing of idols is mentioned in 1Ki 19:18; Ho 13:2.
- ^ “Felt excited,” M; T, “made a joyful noise.”
- ^ Lit., “flesh; meat.”
- ^ “Path,” M; TLXXSyVg, “traveler.”
- ^ “Like an earthling man (Adam; man).” Heb., kheʼa·dhamʹ, possibly, “from man; among men.”
- ^ Lit., “mark,” evidently in writing, confirming a legal document.
- ^ Lit., “man.” Heb., ʼish.
- ^ Lit., “its power.” Heb., ko·chahʹ.
REFERENCES
- ^ Pr 6:25; Mt 5:28
- ^ Jb 31:9; 1Co 7:1
- ^ Jb 20:29
- ^ Ps 73:18; Pr 10:29
- ^ Ge 16:13; 2Ch 16:9; Ps 139:3; Pr 5:21; Je 32:19
- ^ Ps 26:5
- ^ Pr 6:18
- ^ 1Sa 2:3; Da 5:27
- ^ Jb 2:3; 27:5; Ps 7:8
- ^ De 11:16; Je 10:23
- ^ Nu 15:39; Ec 11:9; Eze 6:9; Mt 5:29; 1Jo 2:16
- ^ Is 33:15
- ^ Le 26:16
- ^ Jb 31:1; Mt 5:28
- ^ Jb 24:15
- ^ 2Sa 12:11; Je 8:10
- ^ Ge 38:24; Le 20:10; De 22:22
- ^ Pr 6:27; 7:27
- ^ Ps 82:3; Pr 22:23; Is 10:3
- ^ Jb 34:19; Ps 139:16; Pr 14:31; 22:2; Ml 2:10
- ^ De 15:7
- ^ De 10:18; Pr 28:27
- ^ Eze 18:7; Jm 1:27; 1Jo 3:17
- ^ Is 58:7; Mt 25:36; Lu 3:11; Jm 2:15
- ^ De 24:13
- ^ De 18:4
- ^ Pr 14:21
- ^ De 16:18
- ^ Jb 13:11
- ^ Ps 49:6; Pr 11:28; 1Ti 6:17
- ^ Es 5:11; Ps 62:10; Pr 11:28
- ^ De 8:17
- ^ De 4:19
- ^ De 11:16
- ^ Pr 17:5; 24:17
- ^ Mt 5:44; Ro 12:14
- ^ Ge 18:5; Ro 12:13
- ^ Ge 19:3; Jg 19:21; Mt 25:35; Heb 13:2; 1Pe 4:9
- ^ Ge 3:8; Pr 28:13; Ac 5:8
- ^ Jb 19:7
- ^ Jb 13:22
- ^ Jb 29:6
- ^ Jm 5:4
- ^ 1Ki 21:15
- ^ Ge 3:18
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