¹“I made a covenant with my eyes ;

how then should I look lustfully at a young woman?

²For what is the portion from God above ,

and the heritage from the Almighty on high ?

³Is it not calamity to the unrighteous ,

and disaster to the workers of iniquity ?

⁴Doesn’t he see my ways ,

and count all my steps ?

⁵“If I have walked with falsehood ,

and my foot has hurried to deceit

⁶(let me be weighed in an even balance ,

that God may know my integrity );

⁷if my step has turned out of the way ,

if my heart walked after my eyes ,

if any defilement has stuck to my hands ,

⁸then 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 neighbour ’s door ,

¹⁰then let my wife grind for another,

and let others sleep with her .

¹¹For that would be a heinous crime .

Yes , it would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges ,

¹²for 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 servant

or of my female servant ,

when they contended with me ,

¹⁴what then will I do when God rises up ?

When he visits, what will I answer him ?

¹⁵Didn’t he who made me in the womb make him ?

Didn’t 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 ,

¹⁷or have eaten my morsel alone ,

and the fatherless has not eaten of it

¹⁸(no, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father,

I have guided her from my mother’s womb);

¹⁹if I have seen any perish for want of clothing ,

or that the needy had no covering ;

²⁰if his heart hasn’t blessed me ,

if he hasn’t been warmed with my sheep ’s fleece ;

²¹if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless ,

because I saw my help in the gate ;

²²then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder blade ,

and my arm be broken from the bone .

²³For calamity from God is a terror to me .

Because 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 ;’

²⁵If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great ,

and because my hand had gotten much ;

²⁶if I have seen the sun when it shined ,

or the moon moving in splendour,

²⁷and my heart has been secretly enticed ,

and my hand threw a kiss from my mouth ;

²⁸this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges,

for I would have denied the God who is above .

²⁹“If I have rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me ,

or lifted up myself when evil found him

³⁰(I have certainly not allowed my mouth to sin

by asking his life with a curse);

³¹if the men of my tent have not said,

‘Who can find one who has not been filled with his meat ?’

³²(the foreigner has not camped in the street ,

but I have opened my doors to the traveller);

³³if like Adam I have covered my transgressions ,

by hiding my iniquity in my heart,

³⁴because I feared the great multitude ,

and the contempt of families terrified me ,

so that I kept silence , and didn’t go out of the door —

³⁵oh that I had one to hear me !

Behold , here is my signature ! Let the Almighty answer me !

Let the accuser write my indictment !

³⁶Surely I would carry it on my shoulder ,

and I would bind it to me as a crown .

³⁷I would declare to him the number of my steps .

I would go near to him like a prince .

³⁸If my land cries out against me ,

and its furrows weep together ;

³⁹if I have eaten its fruits without money ,

or have caused its owners to lose their life ,

⁴⁰let briers grow instead of wheat ,

and stinkweed instead of barley .”

The words of Job are ended .