Skip to content- 1Verse 1. “I have made a covenant with my eyes. How then could I gaze with desire at a virgin?
- 2Verse 2. For what is the allotment of God from above, or the heritage from the Almighty on high?
- 3Verse 3. Does not disaster come to the unjust and calamity to the workers of iniquity?
- 4Verse 4. Does He not see my ways and count my every step?
- 5Verse 5. If I have walked in falsehood or my foot has rushed to deceit,
- 6Verse 6. let God weigh me with honest scales, that He may know my integrity.
- 7Verse 7. If my steps have turned from the path, if my heart has followed my eyes, or if impurity has stuck to my hands,
- 8Verse 8. then may another eat what I have sown, and may my crops be uprooted.
- 9Verse 9. If my heart has been enticed by my neighbor’s wife, or I have lurked at his door,
- 10Verse 10. then may my own wife grind grain for another, and may other men sleep with her.
- 11Verse 11. For that would be a heinous crime, an iniquity to be judged.
- 12Verse 12. For it is a fire that burns down to Abaddon; it would root out my entire harvest.
- 13Verse 13. If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or maidservant when they made a complaint against me,
- 14Verse 14. what will I do when God rises to judge? How will I answer when called to account?
- 15Verse 15. Did not He who made me in the womb also make them? Did not the same One form us in the womb?
- 16Verse 16. If I have denied the desires of the poor or allowed the widow’s eyes to fail,
- 17Verse 17. if I have eaten my morsel alone, not sharing it with the fatherless—
- 18Verse 18. though from my youth I reared him as would a father, and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow—
- 19Verse 19. if I have seen one perish for lack of clothing, or a needy man without a cloak,
- 20Verse 20. if his heart has not blessed me for warming him with the fleece of my sheep,
- 21Verse 21. if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless because I saw that I had support in the gate,
- 22Verse 22. then may my arm fall from my shoulder and be torn from its socket.
- 23Verse 23. For calamity from God terrifies me, and His splendor I cannot overpower.
- 24Verse 24. If I have put my trust in gold or called pure gold my security,
- 25Verse 25. if I have rejoiced in my great wealth because my hand had gained so much,
- 26Verse 26. if I have beheld the sun in its radiance or the moon moving in splendor,
- 27Verse 27. so that my heart was secretly enticed and my hand threw a kiss from my mouth,
- 28Verse 28. this would also be an iniquity to be judged, for I would have denied God on high.
- 29Verse 29. If I have rejoiced in my enemy’s ruin, or exulted when evil befell him—
- 30Verse 30. I have not allowed my mouth to sin by asking for his life with a curse—
- 31Verse 31. if the men of my house have not said, ‘Who is there who has not had his fill?’—
- 32Verse 32. but no stranger had to lodge on the street, for my door has been open to the traveler—
- 33Verse 33. if I have covered my transgressions like Adam by hiding my guilt in my heart,
- 34Verse 34. because I greatly feared the crowds and the contempt of the clans terrified me, so that I kept silent and would not go outside—
- 35Verse 35. (Oh, that I had one to hear me! Here is my signature. Let the Almighty answer me; let my accuser compose an indictment.
- 36Verse 36. Surely I would carry it on my shoulder and wear it like a crown.
- 37Verse 37. I would give account of all my steps; I would approach Him like a prince.)—
- 38Verse 38. if my land cries out against me and its furrows weep together,
- 39Verse 39. if I have devoured its produce without payment or broken the spirit of its tenants,
- 40Verse 40. then let briers grow instead of wheat and stinkweed instead of barley.” Thus conclude the words of Job.