| 1 ¶ I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?
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| 2 For what portion of God is there from above? and what inheritance of the Almighty from on high?
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| 3 Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity?
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| 4 Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps?
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| 5 If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit;
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| 6 Let1 me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine integrity.
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| 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;
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| 8 Then let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted out.
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| 9 ¶ If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at my neighbour's door;
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| 10 Then let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her.
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| 11 For this is an heinous crime; yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges.
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| 12 For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase.
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| 13 If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, when they contended with me;
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| 14 What then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him?
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| 15 Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one2 fashion us in the womb?
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| 16 ¶ If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail;
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| 17 Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof;
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| 18 (For from my youth he was brought up with me, as with a father,3 and I have guided her from my mother's womb;)
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| 19 If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering;
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| 20 If his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep;
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| 21 If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate:
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| 22 Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone.4
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| 23 For destruction from God was a terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure.
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| 24 ¶ If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence;
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| 25 If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because mine hand had gotten5 much;
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| 26 If I beheld the sun6 when it shined, or the moon walking in7 brightness;
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| 27 And my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth8 hath kissed my hand:
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| 28 This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should have denied the God that is above.
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| 29 If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him:
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| 30 Neither have I suffered my mouth9 to sin by wishing a curse to his soul.
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| 31 If the men of my tabernacle said not, Oh that we had of his flesh! we cannot be satisfied.
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| 32 The stranger did not lodge in the street: but I opened my doors to the traveller.10
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| 33 ¶ If I covered my transgressions as Adam,11 by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom:
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| 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?
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| 35 Oh that one would hear me! behold, my12 desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, and that mine adversary had written a book.
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| 36 Surely I would take it upon my shoulder, and bind it as a crown to me.
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| 37 I would declare unto him the number of my steps; as a prince would I go near unto him.
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| 38 If my land cry against me, or that the furrows likewise thereof complain;13
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| 39 If I have eaten the fruits14 thereof without money, or have caused the owners15 thereof to lose their life:
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| 40 Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle16 instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.
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