Chapter 31

And this was a man that had bound his eyes over by covenant; never should even his fancy dwell upon the thought of a maid!

Well I knew that God Almighty in high heaven would have neither part nor lot with me else;

ruin for the sinner his doom is, disinheritance for the wrong-doer.

Tell me, does not this God watch over every path I take, trace my footsteps one by one?

Walk I by crooked ways, run I eagerly after false dealing,

he can weigh my offence with true scales; let God himself bear witness to my innocence!

Have I strayed from my course; has my heart followed the lure of my eyes; are my hands stained with wrong?

Then let another man enjoy the harvest I have sowed, then let my race be doomed to extinction!

Have wiles of woman entangled my heart; did I lie in wait under my neighbour’s window?

Then be my own wife another’s whore, strangers be her bedfellows!

That were sin in me, and foul wrong done;

that fire, once lighted, will rage till all is consumed, never a crop shall escape it.

Did I refuse justice to man-servant of mine or woman-servant, when they had complaint to bring?

Then it shall go hard with me when it is God’s turn to pronounce judgement; how shall I meet his scrutiny,

who fashioned in the womb this one and that, man and master alike?

Did I deny some poor man the alms he craved, keep the widow waiting for her pittance,

sit over my meal alone, and never an orphan boy to share it?

That were an ill return for the loving care that has borne me company as I grew up from childhood, ever since I left my mother’s womb.

Did I spurn the naked that were ready to perish of cold, too poor to find clothing;

did I never earn thanks, from the back that went bare till fleece of my flock warmed it?

Did I threaten the friendless, whenever I could secure judgement against them in the market-place?

Then let shoulder of mine hang from shoulder-blade, every bone in my arm broken!

Nay, but God’s terrors overwhelmed, his majesty overbore me.

In wealth did I put my trust, hail the bright gold as my life’s protector;

doted I upon my great riches, upon all my toil had earned?

When I gazed on the sun in its splendour, on the moon in her royal progress,

did these things steal my heart away, so that mouth kissed hand in adoration?

That were great wrong done, to deny the God who is higher than all.

Did I triumph over a fallen foe, rejoice at his ruin;

lend my lips to ill uses, cursing my enemy’s life away?

Rather, it was of myself men were fain to speak evil, men of my own household, and to their hearts’ content.

Never had the stranger to lodge in the open, my doors were open to every wayfarer that passed.

Men are frail; does sin lie on my conscience undisclosed, does the memory of guilt rankle in my bosom?

Was I daunted by fear of the throng, of my neighbours’ contemptuous looks? Did I hold my tongue,3 and keep within doors?

O that my cause might be tried; that he, the Almighty, would grant my request, that he, my judge, would write my record down;

how proudly I would bear it with me, shoulder-high, wear it as a crown!

I would proclaim it wherever I went, fit for a king’s eyes to read.

Can these lands of mine bear testimony against me, can their furrows tell a sad tale

of harvests enjoyed, and no price paid for them, of labourers cruelly treated?

Then thistles for wheat, thorns for barley may it yield me. Ended herewith are the sayings of Job.