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¹ I made a covenant with mine eyes; how then should I look upon a maid?² For what would be 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 count all my steps?⁵ If I have walked with vanity, and my foot hath hasted to deceit--⁶ Let me be weighed in a just balance, that God may know mine integrity--⁷ If my step hath turned out of the way, ⁸ Then let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let the produce of my field be rooted out.

⁹ If my heart have been enticed unto a woman, and I have lain in 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 a 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 man-servant, or of my maid-servant, when they contended with me--¹⁴ What then shall I do when God riseth up? And when He remembereth, 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 aught that the poor desired, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail;¹⁷ Or have eaten my morsel myself 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 wanderer in 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 majesty 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 my 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 exulted 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 meat?'³² The stranger did not lodge in the street; my doors I opened to the roadside.

³³ If after the manner of men I covered my transgressions, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom--³⁴ Because I feared the great multitude, and the most contemptible among families terrified me, ³⁵ Oh that I had one to hear me!--Lo, here is my signature, let the Almighty answer me-- 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 tillers thereof to be disappointed--⁴⁰ Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and noisome weeds instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.