| 1 | "I made a covenant with my eyes, how then should I look lustfully at a young woman? |
| 2 | For what is the portion from God above, and the heritage from the Almighty on high? |
| 3 | Is it not calamity to the unrighteous, and disaster to the workers of iniquity? |
| 4 | Doesn't he see my ways, and number all my steps? |
| 5 | "If I have walked with falsehood, and my foot has hurried to deceit |
| 6 | (let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know my integrity); |
| 7 | if my step has turned out of the way, if my heart walked after my eyes, if any defilement has stuck to my hands, |
| 8 | then let me sow, and let another eat. Yes, let the produce of my field be rooted out. |
| 9 | "If my heart has been enticed to a woman, and I have laid wait at my neighbor's door, |
| 10 | then let my wife grind for another, and let others sleep with her. |
| 11 | For that would be a heinous crime. Yes, it would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges: |
| 12 | For it is a fire that consumes to destruction, and would root out all my increase. |
| 13 | "If I have despised the cause of my male servant or of my female servant, when they contended with me; |
| 14 | What then shall I do when God rises up? When he visits, what shall I answer him? |
| 15 | Didn't he who made me in the womb make him? Didn't one fashion us in the womb? |
| 16 | "If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail, |
| 17 | or have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless has not eaten of it |
| 18 | (no, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, her have I guided from my mother's womb); |
| 19 | if I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or that the needy had no covering; |
| 20 | if his heart hasn't blessed me, if he hasn't been warmed with my sheep's fleece; |
| 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 my arm be broken from the bone. |
| 23 | For calamity from God is a terror to me. Because his majesty, I can do nothing. |
| 24 | "If I have made gold my hope, and have said to the fine gold, 'You are my confidence;' |
| 25 | If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because my hand had gotten much; |
| 26 | if I have seen the sun when it shined, or the moon moving in splendor, |
| 27 | and my heart has been secretly enticed, and my hand threw a kiss from my mouth, |
| 28 | this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges; for I should have denied the God who is above. |
| 29 | "If I have rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him; |
| 30 | (yes, I have not allowed my mouth to sin by asking his life with a curse); |
| 31 | if the men of my tent have not said, 'Who can find one who has not been filled with his meat?' |
| 32 | (the foreigner has not lodged in the street, but I have opened my doors to the traveler); |
| 33 | if like Adam I have covered my transgressions, by hiding my iniquity in my heart, |
| 34 | because I feared the great multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silence, and didn't go out of the door-- |
| 35 | oh that I had one to hear me! (behold, here is my signature, let the Almighty answer me); let the accuser write my indictment! |
| 36 | Surely I would carry it on my shoulder; and I would bind it to me as a crown. |
| 37 | I would declare to him the number of my steps. as a prince would I go near to him. |
| 38 | If my land cries out against me, and its furrows weep together; |
| 39 | if I have eaten its fruits without money, or have caused its owners to lose their life, |
| 40 | let briars grow instead of wheat, and stinkweed instead of barley." The words of Job are ended. |
