Hebrew Bible

I made a covenant with mine eyes; how then should I look upon a maid?

For what would be the portion of God from above, and the heritage of the Almighty from on high?

Is it not calamity to the unrighteous, and disaster to the workers of iniquity?

Doth not He see my ways, and count all my steps?

If I have walked with vanity, and my foot hath hasted to deceit--

Let me be weighed in a just balance, that God may know mine integrity--

If my step hath turned out of the way, and my heart walked after mine eyes, and if any spot hath cleaved to my hands;

Then let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let the produce of my field be rooted out.

If my heart have been enticed unto a woman, and I have lain in wait at my neighbour's door;

Then let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her.

For that were a heinous crime; yea, it were an iniquity to be punished by the judges.

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

If I did despise the cause of my man-servant, or of my maid-servant, when they contended with me--

What then shall I do when God riseth up? And when He remembereth, what shall I answer Him?

Did not He that made me in the womb make him? And did not One fashion us in the womb?

If I have withheld aught that the poor desired, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail;

Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof--

Nay, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, and I have been her guide from my mother's womb.

If I have seen any wanderer in want of clothing, or that the needy had no covering;

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

If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, because I saw my help in the gate;

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

For calamity from God was a terror to me, and by reason of His majesty I could do nothing.

If I have made gold my hope, and have said to the fine gold: 'Thou art my confidence';

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

If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness;

And my heart hath been secretly enticed, and my mouth hath kissed my hand;

This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judges; for I should have lied to God that is above.

If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, or exulted when evil found him--

Yea, I suffered not my mouth to sin by asking his life with a curse.

If the men of my tent said not: 'Who can find one that hath not been satisfied with his meat?'

The stranger did not lodge in the street; my doors I opened to the roadside.

If after the manner of men I covered my transgressions, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom--

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

Oh that I had one to hear me!--Lo, here is my signature, let the Almighty answer me-- and that I had the indictment which mine adversary hath written!

Surely I would carry it upon my shoulder; I would bind it unto me as a crown.

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

If my land cry out against me, and the furrows thereof weep together;

If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, or have caused the tillers thereof to be disappointed--

Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and noisome weeds instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.