[1] “I have made a covenant with my eyes. How then could I gaze with desire at a virgin?
[2] For what is the allotment of God from above, or the heritage from the Almighty on high?
[3] Does not disaster come to the unjust and calamity to the workers of iniquity?
[4] Does He not see my ways and count my every step?
[5] If I have walked in falsehood or my foot has rushed to deceit,
[6] let God weigh me with honest scales, that He may know my integrity.
[7] If my steps have turned from the path, if my heart has followed my eyes, or if impurity has stuck to my hands,
[8] then may another eat what I have sown, and may my crops be uprooted.
[9] If my heart has been enticed by my neighbor’s wife, or I have lurked at his door,
[10] then may my own wife grind grain for another, and may other men sleep with her.
[11] For that would be a heinous crime, an iniquity to be judged.
[12] For it is a fire that burns down to Abaddon; it would root out my entire harvest.
[13] If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or maidservant when they made a complaint against me,
[14] what will I do when God rises to judge? How will I answer when called to account?
[15] Did not He who made me in the womb also make them? Did not the same One form us in the womb?
[16] If I have denied the desires of the poor or allowed the widow’s eyes to fail,
[17] if I have eaten my morsel alone, not sharing it with the fatherless—
[18] though from my youth I reared him as would a father, and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow—
[19] if I have seen one perish for lack of clothing, or a needy man without a cloak,
[20] if his heart has not blessed me for warming him with the fleece of my sheep,
[21] if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless because I saw that I had support in the gate,
[22] then may my arm fall from my shoulder and be torn from its socket.
[23] For calamity from God terrifies me, and His splendor I cannot overpower.
[24] If I have put my trust in gold or called pure gold my security,
[25] if I have rejoiced in my great wealth because my hand had gained so much,
[26] if I have beheld the sun in its radiance or the moon moving in splendor,
[27] so that my heart was secretly enticed and my hand threw a kiss from my mouth,
[28] this would also be an iniquity to be judged, for I would have denied God on high.
[29] If I have rejoiced in my enemy’s ruin, or exulted when evil befell him—
[30] I have not allowed my mouth to sin by asking for his life with a curse—
[31] if the men of my house have not said, ‘Who is there who has not had his fill?’—
[32] but no stranger had to lodge on the street, for my door has been open to the traveler—
[33] if I have covered my transgressions like Adam by hiding my guilt in my heart,
[34] because I greatly feared the crowds and the contempt of the clans terrified me, so that I kept silent and would not go outside—
[35] (Oh, that I had one to hear me! Here is my signature. Let the Almighty answer me; let my accuser compose an indictment.
[36] Surely I would carry it on my shoulder and wear it like a crown.
[37] I would give account of all my steps; I would approach Him like a prince.)—
[38] if my land cries out against me and its furrows weep together,
[39] if I have devoured its produce without payment or broken the spirit of its tenants,
[40] then let briers grow instead of wheat and stinkweed instead of barley.” Thus conclude the words of Job.