Read the Bible

¹ "I made a covenant with my eyes
not to let them lust after any girl.

² "What share does God give from above?
What is the heritage from Shaddai on high?
³ Isn't it calamity to the unrighteous?
disaster to those who do evil?
⁴ Doesn't he see my ways
and count all my steps?

⁵ "If I have gone along with falsehood,
if my feet have hurried to deceit;
⁶ then let me be weighed on an honest scale,
so that God will know my integrity.

⁷ "If my steps have wandered from the way,
if my heart has followed my eyes,
if the least dirt has stuck to my hands;
⁸ then let me sow and someone else eat,
let what grows from my fields be uprooted.

⁹ "If my heart has been enticed toward a woman,
and I have lain in wait at my neighbor's door;
¹⁰ then let my wife grind for another man,
and let others kneel on her.
¹¹ For that would be a heinous act,
a criminal offense,
¹² a fire that would burn to the depths of Abaddon,
uprooting all I produce.

¹³ "If I ever rejected my slave or slave-girl's cause,
when they brought legal action against me;
¹⁴ then what would I do if God stood up?
Were he to intervene, what answer could I give?
¹⁵ Didn't he who made me in the womb make them too?
Didn't the same one shape us both before our birth?

¹⁶ "If I held back anything needed by the poor
or made a widow's eye grow dim [with tears],
¹⁷ or ate my portion of food by myself,
without letting the orphan eat any of it —
¹⁸ No! From my youth he grew up
with me as if with a father,
and I have been her guide
from my mother's womb! —
¹⁹ or if I saw a traveler needing clothing,
someone in need who had no covering,
²⁰ who didn't bless me from his heart
for being warmed with the fleece from my sheep,
²¹ or if I lifted my hand against an orphan,
knowing that no one would dare charge me in court;
²² then let my arm fall from its socket,
and let my forearm be broken at the elbow!
²³ For calamity from God has always terrified me;
before his majesty I could never do a thing [like that].

²⁴ "If I made gold my hope,
if I said to fine gold, ‘You are my security,'
²⁵ if I took joy in my great wealth,
in my having acquired so much;
²⁶ or if, on seeing the shining sun
or the full moon as it moved through the sky,
²⁷ my heart was secretly seduced,
so that I would wave them a kiss with my hand;
²⁸ then this too would be a criminal offense,
for I would have been lying to God on high.

²⁹ "Did I rejoice at the destruction of him who hated me?
Was I filled with glee when disaster overtook him?
³⁰ No, I did not allow my mouth to sin
by asking for his life with a curse.

³¹ "Was there anyone in my tent who didn't say,
‘No one can find a single person
whom he has not filled with his meat'?
³² No stranger had to sleep in the street;
I kept my house open to the traveler.

³³ "If I concealed my sins, as most people do,
by hiding my wrongdoing in my heart,
³⁴ from fear of general gossip
or dread of some family's contempt.
keeping silent and not going outdoors —
³⁵ I wish I had someone who would listen to me!
Here is my signature; let Shaddai answer me!
I wish I had the indictment my adversary has written!
³⁶ I would carry it on my shoulder;
I would bind it on me like a crown.
³⁷ I would declare to him every one of my steps;
I would approach him like a prince.

³⁸ "If my land cried out against me,
if its furrows wept together,
³⁹ if I ate its produce without paying
or made its owners despair;
⁴⁰ then let thistles grow instead of wheat
and noxious weeds instead of barley!

"The words of Iyov are finished."