1 "I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl. |
2 For 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 in 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 sin to be judged. |
12 It is a fire that burns to Destruction; it would have uprooted my harvest. |
13 "If I have denied justice to my menservants and maidservants when they had a grievance against me, |
14 what will I do when God confronts me? What will I answer when called to account? |
15 Did not he who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same one form us both within our mothers? |
16 "If I have denied the desires of the poor or let the eyes of the widow grow weary, |
17 if I have kept my bread to myself, not sharing it with the fatherless-- |
18 but from my youth I reared him as would a father, and from my birth I guided the widow-- |
19 if I have seen anyone perishing for lack of clothing, or a needy man without a garment, |
20 and his heart did not bless me for warming him with the fleece from my sheep, |
21 if I have raised my hand against the fatherless, knowing that I had influence in court, |
22 then let my arm fall from the shoulder, let it be broken off at the joint. |
23 For I dreaded destruction from God, and for fear of his splendor I could not do such things. |
24 "If I have put my trust in gold or said to pure gold, 'You are my security,' |
25 if I have rejoiced over my great wealth, the fortune my hands had gained, |
26 if I have regarded the sun in its radiance or the moon moving in splendor, |
27 so that my heart was secretly enticed and my hand offered them a kiss of homage, |
28 then these also would be sins to be judged, for I would have been unfaithful to God on high. |
29 "If I have rejoiced at my enemy's misfortune or gloated over the trouble that came to him-- |
30 I have not allowed my mouth to sin by invoking a curse against his life-- |
31 if the men of my household have never said, 'Who has not had his fill of Job's meat?'-- |
32 but no stranger had to spend the night in the street, for my door was always open to the traveler-- |
33 if I have concealed my sin as men do, by hiding my guilt in my heart |
34 because I so feared the crowd and so dreaded the contempt of the clans that I kept silent and would not go outside |
35 ("Oh, that I had someone to hear me! I sign now my defense--let the Almighty answer me; let my accuser put his indictment in writing. |
36 Surely I would wear it on my shoulder, I would put it on like a crown. |
37 I would give him an account of my every step; like a prince I would approach him.)-- |
38 "if my land cries out against me and all its furrows are wet with tears, |
39 if I have devoured its yield without payment or broken the spirit of its tenants, |
40 then let briers come up instead of wheat and weeds instead of barley." The words of Job are ended. |