¹I made a covenant with mine eyes; and how should I fix my regard upon a maid?

²For what would have been my portion of +God from above, and what the heritage of the Almighty from on high?[#Hebrew: Eloah]

³Is not calamity for the unrighteous? and misfortune for the workers of iniquity?

⁴Doth not he see my ways, and number all my steps?

⁵If I have walked with falsehood, and my foot hath hasted to deceit,

⁶(Let me be weighed in an even balance, and +God will take knowledge of my blamelessness;)[#Hebrew: Eloah]

⁷If my step have turned out of the way, and my heart followed mine eyes, and if any blot cleaveth to my hands;

⁸Let me sow, and another eat; and let mine offspring be rooted out.

⁹If my heart have been enticed unto a woman, so that I laid wait at my neighbour's door,

¹⁰Let my wife grind for another, and let others bow down upon her.

¹¹For this is an infamy; yea, it is an iniquity to be judged by the judges:

¹²For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase.

¹³If I have despised the cause of my bondman or of my bondmaid, when they contended with me,

¹⁴What then should I do when ·God riseth up? and if he visited, what should I answer him?[#Hebrew: El]

¹⁵Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not One fashion us in the womb?

¹⁶If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or caused the eyes of the widow to fail;

¹⁷Or have eaten my morsel alone, so that the fatherless ate not thereof,

¹⁸(For from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, and I have guided the widow from my mother's womb;)

¹⁹If I have seen any perishing for want of clothing, or any needy without covering;

²⁰If his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my lambs;

²¹If I have lifted up my hand against an orphan, because I saw my help in the gate:

²²Then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder-blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone!

²³For calamity from ·God was a terror to me, and by reason of his excellency I was powerless.[#Hebrew: El]

²⁴If I have made gold my hope, or said to the fine gold, My confidence!

²⁵If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because my hand had gotten much;

²⁶If I beheld the sun when it shone, or the moon walking in brightness,

²⁷And my heart have been secretly enticed, so that my mouth kissed my hand:

²⁸This also would be an iniquity for the judge, for I should have denied the ·God who is above.[#Hebrew: El]

²⁹If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, and exulted when evil befell him;

³⁰(Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by asking his life with a curse;)

³¹If the men of my tent said not, Who shall find one that hath not been satisfied with his meat? —

³²The stranger did not lodge without; I opened my doors to the pathway.

³³If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom,

³⁴Because I feared the great multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silence, and went not out of the door, ...

³⁵Oh that I had one to hear me! Behold my signature: let the Almighty answer me! And let mine opponent write an accusation!

³⁶Would I not take it upon my shoulder? I would bind it on to me as a crown;

³⁷I would declare unto him the number of my steps; as a prince would I come near to him.

³⁸If my land cry out against me, and its furrows weep together;

³⁹If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, and have tormented to death the souls of its owners:

⁴⁰Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and tares instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.