Job 31

Good News Translation

² What does Almighty God do to us?
    How does he repay human deeds?
³ He sends disaster and ruin
    to those who do wrong.
⁴ God knows everything I do;
    he sees every step I take.

⁵ I swear I have never acted wickedly
    and never tried to deceive others.
⁶ Let God weigh me on honest scales,
    and he will see how innocent I am.
⁷ If I have turned from the right path
    or let myself be attracted to evil,
    if my hands are stained with sin,
⁸     then let my crops be destroyed,
    or let others eat the food I grow.

⁹ If I have been attracted to my neighbor's wife,
    and waited, hidden, outside her door,
¹⁰     then let my wife cook another man's food
    and sleep in another man's bed.
¹¹ Such wickedness should be punished by death.
¹² It would be like a destructive, hellish fire,
    consuming everything I have.

¹³ When any of my servants complained against me,
    I would listen and treat them fairly.
¹⁴ If I did not, how could I then face God?
    What could I say when God came to judge me?
¹⁵ The same God who created me
    created my servants also.

^16 (A)I have never refused to help the poor;
    never have I let widows live in despair
¹⁷     or let orphans go hungry while I ate.
¹⁸ All my life I have taken care of them.^[a]

¹⁹ When I found someone in need,
    too poor to buy clothes,
²⁰     I would give him clothing made of wool
    that had come from my own flock of sheep.
Then he would praise me with all his heart.

²¹ If I have ever cheated an orphan,
    knowing I could win in court,
²²     then may my arms be broken;
    may they be torn from my shoulders.
²³ Because I fear God's punishment,
    I could never do such a thing.

^24 (B)I have never trusted in riches
²⁵     or taken pride in my wealth.
²⁶ I have never worshiped the sun in its brightness
    or the moon in all its beauty.
²⁷ I have not been led astray to honor them
    by kissing my hand in reverence to them.
²⁸ Such a sin should be punished by death;
    it denies Almighty God.

²⁹ I have never been glad when my enemies suffered,
    or pleased when they met with disaster;
³⁰     I never sinned by praying for their death.
³¹ All those who work for me know
    that I have always welcomed strangers.
³² I invited travelers into my home
    and never let them sleep in the streets.

³³ Others try to hide their sins,
    but I have never concealed mine.
³⁴ I have never feared what people would say;
    I have never kept quiet or stayed indoors
    because I feared their scorn.

³⁵ Will no one listen to what I am saying?
I swear that every word is true.
Let Almighty God answer me.

If the charges my opponent brings against me
    were written down so that I could see them,
³⁶ I would wear them proudly on my shoulder
    and place them on my head like a crown.
³⁷ I would tell God everything I have done,
    and hold my head high in his presence.

³⁸ If I have stolen the land I farm
    and taken it from its rightful owners—
³⁹     if I have eaten the food that grew there
    but let the farmers that grew it starve—
⁴⁰     then instead of wheat and barley,
    may weeds and thistles grow.