Read the Bible

¹ I MADE a vow with my eyes that I would never lust after a virgin.² For what portion would I have then from God who is above, and what heritage from the Almighty who is on high?³ For it is destruction to the wicked, and punishment to the workers of iniquity.⁴ He sees my ways, and counts all my steps.⁵ If I have walked with hypocrites, or if my foot hastened to deceit;⁶ Let me be weighed in a just balance, that God may know my integrity.⁷ I have not turned aside my steps from the way, and my heart has not followed after my eyes, and I have acquired nothing unjustly;⁸ But when I sowed, then I ate, and when I planted, then I cultivated and gathered the crops.

⁹ And if my heart has been enticed by a strange woman, or if I have lain in wait at my neighbors door;¹⁰ Then let my wife grind for another, and let her bake bread at another mans place,¹¹ For this is a heinous crime; yea, such an eye devises a crafty scheme.¹² For passion is a fire that consumes to destruction, and it would root out all my increase.¹³ If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant, when he contended with me,¹⁴ Without saying, What then shall I do when God rises up in judgment, and when he inquires, what shall I answer him?¹⁵ (For, behold, he who made me in the womb made him, and he created us in the same womb);

¹⁶ If I have withheld the poor from his desire, or have defrauded the widow,¹⁷ Or have eaten my bread alone, and the orphans did not eat of it¹⁸ (Because from my youth I was brought up in sorrows, and from my mothers womb with sighing);¹⁹ If I have seen anyone perishing for want of clothing, or any poor without covering²⁰ (But they were reared upon my knees, and were warmed with the fleece of my sheep);²¹ If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless (when I saw him at the door I helped him);²² Then let my arm fall from my shoulder blade, and let it be broken from the bone.²³ For the fear of God made me to tremble, and affliction from him came upon me, and because of terror I was unable to rise up.

²⁴ If I have made gold my trust, or said about the precious stones, You are my confidence; or have said about fine gold, You are my hope;²⁵ If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because my hand had gotten much;²⁶ If I have adored the sun when it shone, or the moon when in full brightness;²⁷ And if my heart has been secretly enticed, if I have consented to wrongdoings;²⁸ Then God has seen my crafty ways, and I have lied before him.²⁹ If I have rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me, or exulted myself when misfortune befell him;³⁰ (But I have neither suffered my mouth to sin, nor has my soul wished for any of these things;³¹ My friends said, Oh this man would give us even of his own flesh! but we are not satisfied,³² And the stranger I did not let lodge in the street, and I opened my door to the guest);

³³ If I have covered up my sins like some men, or if I have hid my guilt in secret places;³⁴ If I have trampled upon the rights of the others (but on the contrary, it is the multitude of families which has ruined me. Nor have I turned away anyone at the door; or engaged in gossip) let the provocations of God lay me low!³⁵ O that one would hear me! If God is present, let him answer me, and let him write the sentence in a book.³⁶ Surely I would take it upon my shoulder, and make it a crown to me.³⁷ I would declare to him the number of my steps; as a prince I would go near to him.³⁸ Let the earth lament over me, let its furrows weep together,³⁹ If I have eaten its fruits without money; or if I have grieved one whose life is bitter,⁴⁰ Then let thistles grow instead of wheat and thorns instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.