Read the Bible

¹ I made a covenant with my eyes; How then should I look at a virgin?² For what is the portion from God above, And the heritage from the Almighty on high?³ Is it not calamity to the unrighteous, And disaster to the workers of iniquity?⁴ Doesn't he see my ways, And number all my steps?⁵ If I have walked with falsehood, And my foot has hurried to deceit⁶ (Let me be weighed in an even balance, That God may know my integrity);⁷ If my step has turned out of the way, And my heart walked after my eyes, And if any spot has cleaved to my hands:⁸ Then let me sow, and let another eat; Yes, let the produce of my field be rooted out.

⁹ If my heart has been enticed to a woman, And I have laid wait at my neighbor's door;¹⁰ Then let my wife grind to another, And let others bow down on her.¹¹ For that were a heinous crime; Yes, it were an iniquity to be punished by the judges:¹² For it is a fire that consumes to Destruction, And would root out all my increase.¹³ If I have despised the cause of my male slave or of my female slave, When they contended with me;¹⁴ What then shall I do when God rises up? And when he visits, 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 the poor from [their] desire, Or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,¹⁷ Or have eaten my morsel alone, And the fatherless has not eaten thereof¹⁸ (No, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, And her I have guided from my mother's womb);¹⁹ If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, Or that the needy had no covering;²⁰ If his loins haven't blessed me, And if he has not been 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 my arm be broken from the bone.²³ For calamity from God is a terror to me, And by reason of his majesty I can do nothing.

²⁴ If I have made gold my hope, And have said to the fine gold, [You are] my confidence;²⁵ If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great, And because my hand had gotten much;²⁶ If I have seen the sun when it shined, Or the moon walking in brightness,²⁷ And my heart has been secretly enticed, And my mouth has kissed my hand:²⁸ This also was an iniquity to be punished by the judges; For I should have denied the God that is above.²⁹ If I have rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, Or lifted up myself when evil found him;³⁰ (Yes, I haven't allowed my mouth to sin By asking his life with a curse);³¹ If the men of my tent haven't said, Who can find one that has not been filled with his meat?³² (The sojourner has not lodged in the street; But I have opened my doors to the traveler);

³³ If like man I have covered my transgressions, By hiding my iniquity in my bosom,³⁴ Because I feared the great multitude, And the contempt of families terrified me, So that I kept silent, and didn't go out of the door-³⁵ Oh that I had one to hear me! (Look, here is my signature, let the Almighty answer me); And [that I had] the indictment which my adversary has written!³⁶ Surely I would carry it on my shoulder; I would bind it to me as a crown:³⁷ I would declare to him the number of my steps; As a leader I would go near to him.³⁸ If my land cries out against me, And the furrows thereof weep together;³⁹ If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, Or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life:⁴⁰ Let thistles grow instead of wheat, And cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.