Bible Verse Beacon — Scripture for every season

Berean Standard Bible

Job 31:28–30

28this would also be an iniquity to be judged, for I would have denied God on high.

29If I have rejoiced in my enemy’s ruin, or exulted when evil befell him—

30I have not allowed my mouth to sin by asking for his life with a curse—

Read more context — Job 31:1–40

The short excerpt above continues in this full passage.

31:1“I have made a covenant with my eyes. How then could I gaze with desire at a virgin?

31:2For what is the allotment of God from above, or the heritage from the Almighty on high?

31:3Does not disaster come to the unjust and calamity to the workers of iniquity?

31:4Does He not see my ways and count my every step?

31:5If I have walked in falsehood or my foot has rushed to deceit,

31:6let God weigh me with honest scales, that He may know my integrity.

31:7If my steps have turned from the path, if my heart has followed my eyes, or if impurity has stuck to my hands,

31:8then may another eat what I have sown, and may my crops be uprooted.

31:9If my heart has been enticed by my neighbor’s wife, or I have lurked at his door,

31:10then may my own wife grind grain for another, and may other men sleep with her.

31:11For that would be a heinous crime, an iniquity to be judged.

31:12For it is a fire that burns down to Abaddon; it would root out my entire harvest.

31:13If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or maidservant when they made a complaint against me,

31:14what will I do when God rises to judge? How will I answer when called to account?

31:15Did not He who made me in the womb also make them? Did not the same One form us in the womb?

31:16If I have denied the desires of the poor or allowed the widow’s eyes to fail,

31:17if I have eaten my morsel alone, not sharing it with the fatherless—

31:18though from my youth I reared him as would a father, and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow—

31:19if I have seen one perish for lack of clothing, or a needy man without a cloak,

31:20if his heart has not blessed me for warming him with the fleece of my sheep,

31:21if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless because I saw that I had support in the gate,

31:22then may my arm fall from my shoulder and be torn from its socket.

31:23For calamity from God terrifies me, and His splendor I cannot overpower.

31:24If I have put my trust in gold or called pure gold my security,

31:25if I have rejoiced in my great wealth because my hand had gained so much,

31:26if I have beheld the sun in its radiance or the moon moving in splendor,

31:27so that my heart was secretly enticed and my hand threw a kiss from my mouth,

31:28this would also be an iniquity to be judged, for I would have denied God on high.

31:29If I have rejoiced in my enemy’s ruin, or exulted when evil befell him—

31:30I have not allowed my mouth to sin by asking for his life with a curse—

31:31if the men of my house have not said, ‘Who is there who has not had his fill?’—

31:32but no stranger had to lodge on the street, for my door has been open to the traveler—

31:33if I have covered my transgressions like Adam by hiding my guilt in my heart,

31:34because I greatly feared the crowds and the contempt of the clans terrified me, so that I kept silent and would not go outside—

31:35(Oh, that I had one to hear me! Here is my signature. Let the Almighty answer me; let my accuser compose an indictment.

31:36Surely I would carry it on my shoulder and wear it like a crown.

31:37I would give account of all my steps; I would approach Him like a prince.)—

31:38if my land cries out against me and its furrows weep together,

31:39if I have devoured its produce without payment or broken the spirit of its tenants,

31:40then let briers grow instead of wheat and stinkweed instead of barley.” Thus conclude the words of Job.

Short excerpt — open “Read more context” for the complete passage.

Public Domain