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[1] I made a covenant with mine eyes; how then should I look upon a maid?
[2] For what would be the portion of God from above, and the heritage of the Almighty from on high?
[3] Is it not calamity to the unrighteous, and disaster to the workers of iniquity?
[4] Doth not He see my ways, and count all my steps?
[5] If I have walked with vanity, and my foot hath hasted to deceit—
[6] Let me be weighed in a just balance, that God may know mine integrity—
[7] If my step hath turned out of the way, and my heart walked after mine eyes, and if any spot hath cleaved to my hands;
[8] Then let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let the produce of my field be rooted out.
[9] If my heart have been enticed unto a woman, and I have lain in wait at my neighbour's door;
[10] Then let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her.
[11] For that were a heinous crime; yea, it were an iniquity to be punished by the judges.
[12] For it is a fire that consumeth unto destruction, and would root out all mine increase.
[13] If I did despise the cause of my man-servant, or of my maid-servant, when they contended with me—
[14] What then shall I do when God riseth up? And when He remembereth, what shall I answer Him?
[15] Did not He that made me in the womb make him? And did not One fashion us in the womb?
[16] If I have withheld aught that the poor desired, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail;
[17] Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof—
[18] Nay, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, and I have been her guide from my mother's womb.
[19] If I have seen any wanderer in want of clothing, or that the needy had no covering;
[20] If his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep;
[21] If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, because I saw my help in the gate;
[22] Then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder-blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone.
[23] For calamity from God was a terror to me, and by reason of His majesty I could do nothing.
[24] If I have made gold my hope, and have said to the fine gold: 'Thou art my confidence';
[25] If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because my hand had gotten much;
[26] If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness;
[27] And my heart hath been secretly enticed, and my mouth hath kissed my hand;
[28] This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judges; for I should have lied to God that is above.
[29] If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, or exulted when evil found him—
[30] Yea, I suffered not my mouth to sin by asking his life with a curse.
[31] If the men of my tent said not: 'Who can find one that hath not been satisfied with his meat?'
[32] The stranger did not lodge in the street; my doors I opened to the roadside.
[33] If after the manner of men I covered my transgressions, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom—
[34] Because I feared the great multitude, and the most contemptible among families terrified me, so that I kept silence, and went not out of the door.
[35] Oh that I had one to hear me!—Lo, here is my signature, let the Almighty answer me—and that I had the indictment which mine adversary hath written!
[36] Surely I would carry it upon my shoulder; I would bind it unto me as a crown.
[37] I would declare unto him the number of my steps; as a prince would I go near unto him.
[38] If my land cry out against me, and the furrows thereof weep together;
[39] If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, or have caused the tillers thereof to be disappointed—
[40] Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and noisome weeds instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.
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