[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 count 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 will I do when God rises up? When he visits, what will 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, I have guided her 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 of 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 camped 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 briers grow instead of wheat, and stinkweed instead of barley.” The words of Job are ended.