1 »I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a young woman.

2 »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 on 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 crime, a sin to be judged.

12 »That would be a fire consuming down to destruction, and it would burn all my harvest to the root.

13 »If I have rejected the cause of my male or female slaves, when they brought a complaint against me

14 what then shall I do when God rises up? When he makes inquiry, what shall I answer him?

15 »Did the one who made me in the womb make them? And did that one fashion us in the womb?

16 »If I have withheld anything that the poor desired, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,

17 »If I have eaten my morsel alone, and the orphan has not eaten from it,

18 for from my youth I reared the orphan like a father, and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow.

19 »If I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing, or a poor person without covering,

20 whose loins have not blessed me, and who was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep;

21 if I have raised my hand against the orphan, because I saw I had supporters at the gate;

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

23 »I was in terror of destruction from God and I could not face his majesty.

24 »If I have made gold my trust, or called fine gold my confidence,

25 if I have rejoiced because my wealth was great, or because my hand had gotten much;

26 if I have looked at the sun when it shone, or the moon moving in splendor,

27 and my heart has been secretly enticed, and my mouth has kissed my hand,

28 this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges, for I would have denied God above.

29 »If I have rejoiced at the ruin of those who hated me, or exulted when evil overtook them,

30 »I have not let my mouth sin by asking for their lives with a curse.

31 »If those of my tent ever said: ‘Who is not satisfied with his food?«

32 »The stranger has not lodged in the street for I have opened my doors to the traveler.

33 »If I have concealed my transgressions as others do like Adam, by hiding my iniquity in my bosom,

34 because I stood in great fear of the multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silent and did not go out of doors.

35 »Oh, that I had one to hear me! Here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me! Oh, that I had the indictment written by my adversary!

36 »Surely I would carry it on my shoulder; I would bind it on me like a crown.

37 »I would give him an account of all my steps. Like a prince I would approach him.

38 »If my land has cried out against me, and its furrows have wept together.

39 If I have eaten its yield without payment, and caused the death of its owners;

40 let thorns grow instead of wheat, and foul weeds instead of barley.« The words of Job are ended, JOB QUITE TALKING.