[1] I MADE a covenant with mine eyes; how then should I look upon a maid?
[2] For what is 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 number all my steps?
[5] If I have walked with vanity, and my foot hath hasted to deceit;
[6] (Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine integrity;)
[7] If my step hath turned out of the way, and mine heart walked after mine eyes, and if any spot hath cleaved to mine hands:
[8] Then let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let the produce of my field be rooted out.
[9] If mine heart have been enticed unto a woman, and I have laid 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 an 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 manservant or of my maidservant, when they contended with me:
[14] What then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, 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 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 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 perish for 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 excellency 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 mine 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 lifted up myself 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 flesh?
[32] The stranger did not lodge in the street; but I opened my doors to the traveller;
[33] If like Adam I covered my transgressions, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom;
[34] Because I feared the great multitude, and the contempt of 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 owners thereof to lose their life:
[40] Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.