| 1 | I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid? |
| 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 strange {punishment} to the workers of iniquity? |
| 4 | Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps? |
| 5 | If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit; |
| 6 | Let me be weighed in an even balance that God may know mine integrity. |
| 7 | If my step hath turned out of the way, and mine heart walked after mine eyes, and if any blot hath cleaved to mine hands; |
| 8 | {Then} let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted out. |
| 9 | If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, or {if} I have laid wait at my neighbour’s door; |
| 10 | {Then} let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her. |
| 11 | For this {is} an heinous crime; yea, it {is} an iniquity {to be punished by} the judges. |
| 12 | For it {is} a fire {that} consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine 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 riseth up? and when he visiteth, 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 myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof; |
| 18 | (For from my youth he was brought up with me, as {with} a father, and I have guided her from my mother’s womb;) |
| 19 | If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering; |
| 20 | If his loins have not blessed me, and {if} he were {not} warmed with the fleece of my sheep; |
| 21 | If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate: |
| 22 | {Then} let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone. |
| 23 | For destruction {from} God {was} a terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure. |
| 24 | If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, {Thou art} my confidence; |
| 25 | If I rejoiced because my wealth {was} great, and because mine hand had gotten much; |
| 26 | If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking {in} brightness; |
| 27 | And my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand: |
| 28 | This also {were} 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 tabernacle said not, Oh that we had of his flesh! we cannot be satisfied. |
| 32 | The stranger did not lodge in the street: {but} I opened my doors to the traveller. |
| 33 | If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine 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} mine 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 cry against me, or that the furrows likewise thereof complain; |
| 39 | If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life: |
| 40 | Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended. |