| 1 | "I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl. | |
| 2 | For what is man's lot from God above, his heritage from the Almighty on high? | |
| 3 | Is it not ruin for the wicked, disaster for those who do wrong? | |
| 4 | Does he not see my ways and count my every step? | |
| 5 | "If I have walked in falsehood or my foot has hurried after deceit-- | |
| 6 | let God weigh me in honest scales and he will know that I am blameless-- | |
| 7 | if my steps have turned from the path, if my heart has been led by my eyes, or if my hands have been defiled, | |
| 8 | then may others eat what I have sown, and may my crops be uprooted. | |
| 9 | "If my heart has been enticed by a woman, or if I have lurked at my neighbor's door, | |
| 10 | then may my wife grind another man's grain, and may other men sleep with her. | |
| 11 | For that would have been shameful, a sin to be judged. | |
| 12 | It is a fire that burns to Destruction; it would have uprooted my harvest. | |
| 13 | "If I have denied justice to my menservants and maidservants when they had a grievance against me, | |
| 14 | what will I do when God confronts me? What will I answer when called to account? | |
| 15 | Did not he who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same one form us both within our mothers? | |
| 16 | "If I have denied the desires of the poor or let the eyes of the widow grow weary, | |
| 17 | if I have kept my bread to myself, not sharing it with the fatherless-- | |
| 18 | but from my youth I reared him as would a father, and from my birth I guided the widow-- | |
| 19 | if I have seen anyone perishing for lack of clothing, or a needy man without a garment, | |
| 20 | and his heart did not bless me for warming him with the fleece from my sheep, | |
| 21 | if I have raised my hand against the fatherless, knowing that I had influence in court, | |
| 22 | then let my arm fall from the shoulder, let it be broken off at the joint. | |
| 23 | For I dreaded destruction from God, and for fear of his splendor I could not do such things. | |
| 24 | "If I have put my trust in gold or said to pure gold, 'You are my security,' | |
| 25 | if I have rejoiced over my great wealth, the fortune my hands had gained, | |
| 26 | if I have regarded the sun in its radiance or the moon moving in splendor, | |
| 27 | so that my heart was secretly enticed and my hand offered them a kiss of homage, | |
| 28 | then these also would be sins to be judged, for I would have been unfaithful to God on high. | |
| 29 | "If I have rejoiced at my enemy's misfortune or gloated over the trouble that came to him-- | |
| 30 | I have not allowed my mouth to sin by invoking a curse against his life-- | |
| 31 | if the men of my household have never said, 'Who has not had his fill of Job's meat?'-- | |
| 32 | but no stranger had to spend the night in the street, for my door was always open to the traveler-- | |
| 33 | if I have concealed my sin as men do, by hiding my guilt in my heart | |
| 34 | because I so feared the crowd and so dreaded the contempt of the clans that I kept silent and would not go outside | |
| 35 | ("Oh, that I had someone to hear me! I sign now my defense--let the Almighty answer me; let my accuser put his indictment in writing. | |
| 36 | Surely I would wear it on my shoulder, I would put it on like a crown. | |
| 37 | I would give him an account of my every step; like a prince I would approach him.)-- | |
| 38 | "if my land cries out against me and all its furrows are wet with tears, | |
| 39 | if I have devoured its yield without payment or broken the spirit of its tenants, | |
| 40 | then let briers come up instead of wheat and weeds instead of barley." The words of Job are ended. | |