1I made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze upon a virgin?
2For what portion would there be from God above, and what inheritance from Shaddai from on high?
3Is it not calamity for the unjust, and disaster for the workers of iniquity?
4Does he not see my ways, and count all my steps?
5If I have walked with falsehood, and my foot has hastened to deceit—
6let him weigh me in scales of righteousness, and let God know my integrity.
7If my step has turned aside from the way, and my heart has gone after my eyes, and any blemish has clung to my palms—
8let me sow, and another eat, and let my offspring be uprooted.
9If my heart has been enticed toward a woman, and I have lain in wait at my neighbor’s doorway—
10then let my wife grind for another, and let others bow down over her.
11For that would be a wicked outrage, and it would be an iniquity for the judges.
12For it is a fire that consumes down to Abaddon, and it would uproot all my produce.
13If I have rejected the cause of my male servant or my maidservant when they brought a dispute against me—
14then what could I do when God rises up, and when he calls to account, what could I answer him?
15Did not the one who made me in the womb make him, and did not one and the same fashion us in the womb?
16If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or made the eyes of the widow fail—
17or eaten my morsel alone, and the orphan did not eat from it—
18for from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, and from my mother’s womb I guided her—
19If I have seen anyone perishing for lack of clothing, or a needy person without a covering—
20if his loins did not bless me, and he was not warmed by the shearing of my lambs—
21if I have shaken my hand against the orphan, because I could see my support in the gate—
22then let my shoulder fall from its socket, and let my arm be broken off from its bone.
23For calamity from God was a terror to me, and before his majesty I could do nothing.
24If I have made gold my confidence, or said to fine gold, ‘You are my trust,’—
25if I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because my hand had gained abundance—
26if I looked at the light when it shone, or the moon moving in splendor,
27and my heart was secretly enticed, and my hand kissed my mouth—
28that too would be an iniquity for the judges, for I would have denied God above.
29If I rejoiced at the ruin of the one who hated me, or exulted when evil found him—
30—no, I did not allow my palate to sin by asking for his life with a curse—
31if the men of my tent have not said, ‘Who is there that has not been filled with his meat?’—
32the sojourner did not lodge in the street; I opened my doors to the traveler.
33If I have covered my transgressions like Adam, hiding my iniquity in my bosom,
34because I dreaded the great multitude and the contempt of clans terrified me, so that I kept silent and did not go out the door—
35Oh that I had someone to hear me! Here is my mark—let Shaddai answer me!—and the document my adversary has written.
36Surely I would carry it on my shoulder; I would bind it on myself as a crown.
37I would declare to him the number of my steps; like a prince I would approach him.
38If my land has cried out against me, and its furrows have wept together,
39if I have eaten its yield without payment and made the life of its owners breathe out its last,
40then let thorns grow instead of wheat, and stinkweed instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.
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