1 I made a covenant with my eyes; why then should I think upon a maiden?

2 For what portion of God is there from above? and what inheritance of the Almighty from on high?

3 Is not destruction to the wicked? and a disaster to the workers of iniquity?

4 Does not he see my ways, and count all my steps?

5 If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot has hastened to deceit;

6 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; yea, let my offspring be rooted out.

9 If my heart has been deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at my neighbor’s door;

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

11 For this is a heinous crime; yea, it is 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 did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, when they contended with me;

14 What then shall I do when God rises up? and when he comes, 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 of it;

18 (For from my youth he was brought up with me, as with a father, and I have guided him from my mother’s womb;)

19 If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering;

20 If his heart has not blessed me, and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep;

21 If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw I had help in the gate:

22 Then let my arm fall from my shoulder blade, and my arm be broken from its socket.

23 For destruction from God was a terror to me, and by reason of his majesty I could not endure.

24 If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, You are my confidence;

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

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

27 And my heart has been secretly enticed, or my mouth has kissed my hand:

28 This also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should have denied the God that is above.

29 If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him:

30 Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his soul.

31 If the men of my tent have not, Oh that we had of his meat! we cannot be satisfied.

32 The stranger did not lodge in the street: but I opened my doors to the traveler.

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

34 Did I fear a great multitude, or did the contempt of families terrify me, that I kept silence, and went not out of the door?

35 Oh that one would hear me! behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, and that my adversary had written a book.

36 Surely I would take it upon my shoulder, and bind it as a crown to me.

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

38 If my land cries against me, and its furrows likewise complain;

39 If I have eaten its fruit without payment, or have caused its owners to lose their life:

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