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¹ "I made a covenant for my eyes, || And how do I attend to a virgin?² And what [is] the portion of God from above? And the inheritance of the Mighty from the heights?³ Is not calamity to the perverse? And strangeness to workers of iniquity?⁴ Does He not see my ways, || And number all my steps?⁵ If I have walked with vanity, || And my foot hurries to deceit,⁶ He weighs me in righteous balances, || And God knows my integrity.⁷ If my step turns aside from the way, || And my heart has gone after my eyes, || And blemish has cleaved to my hands,⁸ Let me sow—and another eat, || And let my products be rooted out.

⁹ If my heart has been enticed by a woman, || And I laid wait by the opening of my neighbor,¹⁰ Let my wife grind to another, || And let others bend over her.¹¹ For it [is] a wicked thing, and a judicial iniquity;¹² For it [is] a fire, it consumes to destruction, || And takes root among all my increase,¹³ If I despise the cause of my manservant, || And of my handmaid, || In their contending with me,¹⁴ Then what do I do when God arises? And when He inspects, || What do I answer Him?¹⁵ Did He that made me in the womb not make him? Indeed, One prepares us in the womb.

¹⁶ If I withhold the poor from pleasure, || And consume the eyes of the widow,¹⁷ And I eat my morsel by myself, || And the orphan has nothing [to] eat of it,¹⁸ (But from my youth || He grew up with me as [with] a father, || And from the belly of my mother I am led),¹⁹ If I see [any] perishing without clothing, || And there is no covering for the needy,²⁰ If his loins have not blessed me, || And from the fleece of my sheep || He does not warm himself,²¹ If I have waved my hand at the fatherless, || When I see [him] in the gate of my court,²² Let my shoulder fall from its blade, || And the bone from my arm be broken.²³ For calamity [from] God [is] a dread to me, || And because of His excellence I am not able.

²⁴ If I have made gold my confidence, || And to the pure gold have said, My trust;²⁵ If I rejoice because my wealth [is] great, || And because my hand has found abundance,²⁶ If I see the light when it shines, || And the precious moon walking,²⁷ And my heart is enticed in secret, || And my hand kisses my mouth,²⁸ It also [is] a judicial iniquity, || For I had lied to God above.²⁹ If I rejoice at the ruin of my hater, || And stirred up myself when evil found him,³⁰ Indeed, I have not permitted my mouth to sin, || To ask with an oath his life.³¹ If not, say, O men of my tent: O that we had of his flesh, we are not satisfied.³² A stranger does not lodge in the street, || I open my doors to the traveler.

³³ If I have covered my transgressions as Adam, || To hide my iniquity in my bosom,³⁴ Because I fear a great multitude, || And the contempt of families frightens me, || Then I am silent, I do not go out of the opening.³⁵ Who gives to me a hearing? Behold, my mark. The Mighty One answers me, || And my adversary has written a bill.³⁶ If not—on my shoulder I take it up, || I bind it [as] a crown on myself.³⁷ The number of my steps I tell Him, || As a leader I approach Him.³⁸ If my land cries out against me, || And together its furrows weep,³⁹ If I consumed its strength without money, || And the life of its possessors, I have caused to breathe out,⁴⁰ Instead of wheat let a thorn go forth, || And instead of barley a useless weed!" The words of Job are finished.