| 1 | I reached an agreement with my eyes, that I would not so much as think about a virgin. |
| 2 | For what portion should God from above hold for me, and what inheritance should the Almighty from on high keep? |
| 3 | Is not destruction held for the wicked and repudiation kept for those who work injustice? |
| 4 | Does he not examine my ways and number all my steps? |
| 5 | If I have walked in vanity, or if my foot has hurried towards deceitfulness, |
| 6 | let him weigh me in a just balance, and let God know my simplicity. |
| 7 | If my steps have turned aside from the way, or if my heart has followed my eyes, or if a blemish has clung to my hands, |
| 8 | then may I sow, and let another consume, and let my offspring be eradicated. |
| 9 | If my heart has been deceived over a woman, or if I have waited in ambush at my friend's door, |
| 10 | then let my wife be the harlot of another, and let other men lean over her. |
| 11 | For this is a crime and a very great injustice. |
| 12 | It is a fire devouring all the way to perdition, and it roots out all that springs forth. |
| 13 | If I have despised being subject to judgment with my servant or my maid, when they had any complaint against me, |
| 14 | then what will I do when God rises to judge, and, when he inquires, how will I respond to him? |
| 15 | Is not he who created me in the womb, also he who labored to make him? And did not one and the same form me in the womb? |
| 16 | If I have denied the poor what they wanted and have made the eyes of the widow wait; |
| 17 | if I have eaten my morsel of food alone, while orphans have not eaten from it; |
| 18 | (for from my infancy mercy grew with me, and it came out with me from my mother's womb;) |
| 19 | if I have looked down on him who was perishing because he had no clothing and the poor without any covering, |
| 20 | if his sides have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep; |
| 21 | if I have lifted up my hand over an orphan, even when it might seem to me that I the advantage over him at the gate; |
| 22 | then may my shoulder fall from its joint, and may my arm, with all its bones, be broken. |
| 23 | For I have always feared God, like waves flowing over me, whose weight I was unable to bear. |
| 24 | If I have considered gold to be my strength, or if I have called purified gold 'my Trust;' |
| 25 | if I have rejoiced over my great success, and over the many things my hand has obtained; |
| 26 | if I gazed upon the sun when it shined and the moon advancing brightly, |
| 27 | so that my heart rejoiced in secret and I kissed my hand with my mouth, |
| 28 | which is a very great iniquity and a denial against the most high God; |
| 29 | if I have been glad at the ruin of him who hated me and have exulted that evil found him, |
| 30 | for I have not been given my throat to sin by asking for a curse on his soul; |
| 31 | if the men around my tabernacle have not said: "He might give us some of his food, so that we will be filled," |
| 32 | for the foreigner did not remain at the door, my door was open to the traveler; |
| 33 | if, as man does, I have hidden my sin and have concealed my iniquity in my bosom; |
| 34 | if I became frightened by an excessive crowd, and the disrespect of close relatives alarmed me, so that I would much rather have remained silent or have gone out the door; |
| 35 | then, would he grant me a hearing, so that the Almighty would listen to my desire, and he who judges would himself write a book, |
| 36 | which I would then carry on my shoulder and wrap around me like a crown? |
| 37 | With each of my steps, I would pronounce and offer it, as if to a prince. |
| 38 | So, if my land cries out against me, and if its furrows weep with it, |
| 39 | if I have used its fruits for nothing but money and have afflicted the souls of its tillers, |
| 40 | then, may thistles spring forth for me instead of grain, and thorns instead of barley. (This ended the words of Job.) |
