Job 31:13–23

¹MASTERS, give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven.

¹²¶ And if thy brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years; then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee.

¹³And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty:

¹⁴Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of thy winepress: of that wherewith the Lord thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him.

¹⁵And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God redeemed thee: therefore I command thee this thing to day.

¹⁴¶ Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or of thy strangers that are in thy land within thy gates:

¹⁵At his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor, and setteth his heart upon it: lest he cry against thee unto the Lord, and it be sin unto thee.

⁹And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him.

²⁰¶ And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand; he shall be surely punished.

²¹Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished: for he is his money.

²⁶¶ And if a man smite the eye of his servant, or the eye of his maid, that it perish; he shall let him go free for his eye’s sake.

²⁷And if he smite out his manservant’s tooth, or his maidservant’s tooth; he shall let him go free for his tooth’s sake.

¹⁴At the end of seven years let ye go every man his brother an Hebrew, which hath been sold unto thee; and when he hath served thee six years, thou shalt let him go free from thee: but your fathers hearkened not unto me, neither inclined their ear.

¹⁵And ye were now turned, and had done right in my sight, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbour; and ye had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name:

¹⁶But ye turned and polluted my name, and caused every man his servant, and every man his handmaid, whom ye had set at liberty at their pleasure, to return, and brought them into subjection, to be unto you for servants and for handmaids.

¹⁷Therefore thus saith the Lord; Ye have not hearkened unto me, in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother, and every man to his neighbour: behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, saith the Lord, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.

⁴³Thou shalt not rule over him with rigour; but shalt fear thy God.

⁴⁶And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them for a possession; they shall be your bondmen for ever: but over your brethren the children of Israel, ye shall not rule one over another with rigour.

¹³For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.

¹²Arise, O Lord; O God, lift up thine hand: forget not the humble.

¹³Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God? he hath said in his heart, Thou wilt not require it.

¹⁴Thou hast seen it; for thou beholdest mischief and spite, to requite it with thy hand: the poor committeth himself unto thee; thou art the helper of the fatherless.

¹⁵Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil man: seek out his wickedness till thou find none.

²¹Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart.

¹²When he maketh inquisition for blood, he remembereth them: he forgetteth not the cry of the humble.

¹⁹Arise, O Lord; let not man prevail: let the heathen be judged in thy sight.

¹⁹Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.

¹³Be silent, O all flesh, before the Lord: for he is raised up out of his holy habitation.

⁷The days of visitation are come, the days of recompence are come; Israel shall know it: the prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is mad, for the multitude of thine iniquity, and the great hatred.

³And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far? to whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your glory?

²I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou contendest with me.

³²For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgment.

⁴The best of them is as a brier: the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge: the day of thy watchmen and thy visitation cometh; now shall be their perplexity.

²And enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified.

⁶Arise, O Lord, in thine anger, lift up thyself because of the rage of mine enemies: and awake for me to the judgment that thou hast commanded.

⁹When God arose to judgment, to save all the meek of the earth. Selah.

²And when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say, with unwashen, hands, they found fault.

³¹He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker: but he that honoureth him hath mercy on the poor.

¹⁹How much less to him that accepteth not the persons of princes, nor regardeth the rich more than the poor? for they all are the work of his hands.

¹⁰Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?

²The rich and poor meet together: the Lord is the maker of them all.

⁸Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about; yet thou dost destroy me.

⁹Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay; and wilt thou bring me into dust again?

¹⁰Hast thou not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese?

¹¹Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, and hast fenced me with bones and sinews.

¹²Thou hast granted me life and favour, and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit.

⁷Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?

³Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress, that thou shouldest despise the work of thine hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked?

⁵Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children: and, lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and some of our daughters are brought unto bondage already: neither is it in our power to redeem them; for other men have our lands and vineyards.

¹⁴I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

¹⁵My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

¹⁶Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

⁷¶ If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother:

⁸But thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth.

⁹Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou givest him nought; and he cry unto the Lord against thee, and it be sin unto thee.

¹⁰Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him: because that for this thing the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto.

¹⁴Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter: I did mourn as a dove: mine eyes fail with looking upward: O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me.

²⁹Then the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judæa:

³²Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people, and thine eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them all the day long: and there shall be no might in thine hand.

¹⁰Only they would that we should remember the poor; the same which I also was forward to do.

¹⁹Because he hath oppressed and hath forsaken the poor; because he hath violently taken away an house which he builded not;

⁷Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink, and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry.

⁸But as for the mighty man, he had the earth; and the honourable man dwelt in it.

⁹Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.

¹⁶So the poor hath hope, and iniquity stoppeth her mouth.

¹⁷As for us, our eyes as yet failed for our vain help: in our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save us.

²¹And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.

⁹He hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor; his righteousness endureth for ever; his horn shall be exalted with honour.

¹²³Mine eyes fail for thy salvation, and for the word of thy righteousness.

⁸²Mine eyes fail for thy word, saying, When wilt thou comfort me?

³I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried: mine eyes fail while I wait for my God.

¹⁷But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?

³²And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.

¹¹For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.

¹⁴Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of thy winepress: of that wherewith the Lord thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him.

¹⁶Neither hath oppressed any, hath not withholden the pledge, neither hath spoiled by violence, but hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment,

⁷And hath not oppressed any, but hath restored to the debtor his pledge, hath spoiled none by violence, hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment;

²⁷Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

⁷Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink, and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry.

¹²Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him.

¹³The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me: and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.

¹⁴I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment was as a robe and a diadem.

¹⁵I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame.

¹⁶I was a father to the poor: and the cause which I knew not I searched out.

²⁹For some of them thought, because Judas had the bag, that Jesus had said unto him, Buy those things that we have need of against the feast; or, that he should give something to the poor.

⁴¹But rather give alms of such things as ye have; and, behold, all things are clean unto you.

¹⁰Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

¹³Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality.

⁶For thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought, and stripped the naked of their clothing.

¹⁸My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.

¹⁵And the men which were expressed by name rose up, and took the captives, and with the spoil clothed all that were naked among them, and arrayed them, and shod them, and gave them to eat and to drink, and anointed them, and carried all the feeble of them upon asses, and brought them to Jericho, the city of palm trees, to their brethren: then they returned to Samaria.

³⁹Then Peter arose and went with them. When he was come, they brought him into the upper chamber: and all the widows stood by him weeping, and shewing the coats and garments which Dorcas made, while she was with them.

⁷Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?

¹⁶And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?

⁴They turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the earth hide themselves together.

¹³The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me: and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.

¹¹He answereth and saith unto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise.

³⁶Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

⁴³I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.

¹³In any case thou shalt deliver him the pledge again when the sun goeth down, that he may sleep in his own raiment, and bless thee: and it shall be righteousness unto thee before the Lord thy God.

¹¹When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me:

⁹Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.

¹²Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him.

⁷In thee have they set light by father and mother: in the midst of thee have they dealt by oppression with the stranger: in thee have they vexed the fatherless and the widow.

²⁸They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.

⁹They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor.

²⁷Yea, ye overwhelm the fatherless, and ye dig a pit for your friend.

¹WOE to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds! when the morning is light, they practise it, because it is in the power of their hand.

²And they covet fields, and take them by violence; and houses, and take them away: so they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.

³¶ That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the prince asketh, and the judge asketh for a reward; and the great man, he uttereth his mischievous desire: so they wrap it up.

¹⁰Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:

¹¹For their redeemer is mighty; he shall plead their cause with thee.

¹⁰Then let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her.

⁴⁰Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.

¹⁵And from the wicked their light is withholden, and the high arm shall be broken.

²²The Lord God of gods, the Lord God of gods, he knoweth, and Israel he shall know; if it be in rebellion, or if in transgression against the Lord, (save us not this day,)

²³That we have built us an altar to turn from following the Lord, or if to offer thereon burnt offering or meat offering, or if to offer peace offerings thereon, let the Lord himself require it;

⁶If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.

⁴If I have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me; (yea, I have delivered him that without cause is mine enemy:)

⁵Let the enemy persecute my soul, and take it; yea, let him tread down my life upon the earth, and lay mine honour in the dust. Selah.

¹¹Shall not his excellency make you afraid? and his dread fall upon you?

¹²⁰My flesh trembleth for fear of thee; and I am afraid of thy judgments.

¹¹Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.

⁶¶ Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.

⁷Thou, even thou, art to be feared: and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry?

⁹There is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?

²³When he is about to fill his belly, God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him, and shall rain it upon him while he is eating.

²⁰His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty.

⁹Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him?

⁵I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.

⁶Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.

¹⁵Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.