- 1
- I made a covenant with mine eyes;
and how should I fix my regard upon a maid?
- 2
- For what would have been [my] portion of +God from above, and what the heritage of the Almighty from on high?
- 3
- Is not calamity for the unrighteous?
and misfortune for the workers of iniquity?
- 4
- Doth not he see my ways, and number all my steps?
- 5
- If I have walked with falsehood, and my foot hath hasted to deceit,
- 6
- (Let me be weighed in an even balance, and +God will take knowledge of my blamelessness;)
- 7
- If my step have turned out of the way, and my heart followed mine eyes, and if any blot cleaveth to my hands;
- 8
- Let me sow, and another eat;
and let mine offspring be rooted out.
- 9
- If my heart have been enticed unto a woman, so that I laid wait at my neighbour's door,
- 10
- Let my wife grind for another, and let others bow down upon her.
- 11
- For this is an infamy;
yea, it is an iniquity [to be judged by] the judges:
- 12
- For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase.
- 13
- If I have despised the cause of my bondman or of my bondmaid, when they contended with me,
- 14
- What then should I do when God riseth up?
and if he visited, what should 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 caused the eyes of the widow to fail;
- 17
- Or have eaten my morsel alone, so that the fatherless ate not thereof,
- 18
- (For from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, and I have guided the [widow] from my mother's womb;)
- 19
- If I have seen any perishing for want of clothing, or any needy without covering;
- 20
- If his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my lambs;
- 21
- If I have lifted up my hand against an orphan, because I saw my help in the gate:
- 22
- [Then] let my shoulder fall from the shoulder-blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone!
- 23
- For calamity from God was a terror to me, and by reason of his excellency I was powerless.
- 24
- If I have made gold my hope, or said to the fine gold, 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 shone, or the moon walking in brightness,
- 27
- And my heart have been secretly enticed, so that my mouth kissed my hand:
- 28
- This also would be an iniquity for the judge, for I should have denied the God who is above.
- 29
- If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, and exulted when evil befell him;
- 30
- (Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by asking his life with a curse;)
- 31
- If the men of my tent said not, Who shall find one that hath not been satisfied with his meat?
—
- 32
- The stranger did not lodge without;
I opened my doors to the pathway.
- 33
- If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom,
- 34
- Because I feared the great multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silence, and went not out of the door, …
- 35
- Oh that I had one to hear me!
Behold my signature: let the Almighty answer me! And let mine opponent write an accusation!
- 36
- Would I not take it upon my shoulder?
I would bind it on to me [as] a crown;
- 37
- I would declare unto him the number of my steps;
as a prince would I come near to him.
- 38
- If my land cry out against me, and its furrows weep together;
- 39
- If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, and have tormented to death the souls of its owners:
- 40
- Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and tares instead of barley.
The words of Job are ended.
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