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A covenant, I solemnised for mine eyes,—How then could I gaze upon a virgin?
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Or what would have been my portion of GOD from above? Or what inheritance of the Almighty from on high?
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Is there not calamity, for the perverse? and misfortune, for the workers of iniquity?
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Would, he, not see my ways? and of all my steps, take account?
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Verily I walked not in falsity, nor did my foot haste unto deceit:—
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Let him weigh me in balances of righteousness,—and let GOD take note of mine integrity!
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If my goings have swerved from the way,—and, after mine eyes, hath gone my heart, and, to my hands, hath adhered any stain,
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Let me sow but, another, eat. And let, what I have springing up, be uprooted!
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If my heart hath been enticed unto a woman, or, by the door of my neighbour, I have lien in wait,
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Let my wife, grind to another, and, over her, let others bend!
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Surely that had been a shameful thing! and that an iniquity for the judges!
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Surely, a fire, had that been, which, unto destruction, would have consumed, and, of all mine increase, had it torn up the root.
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If I refused the right of my servant, or my handmaid, when they contended with me,
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What then could I have done when GOD rose up? And, when he visited, what could I have answered him?
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Did not he who, in the womb, made me, make him? And is not he who formed us in the body one?
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If I withheld—from pleasure—the poor, or, the eyes of the widow, I dimmed;
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Or, used to eat my morsel alone, so that the fatherless did not eat thereof;
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Surely, from my youth, he grew up to me, as to a father, and, from my birth, I acted as guide to her:
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If I saw one perishing for lack of clothing, or that the needy had no covering;
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If his loins did not bless me, or if, with the fleece of my lambs, he did not warm himself;
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If I shook—against the fatherless—my hand, when I saw, in the gate, his need of my help,
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Let, my shoulder, from the shoulder-blade, fall, and, my arm, from the upper bone, be broken;
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For, a dread unto me, was calamity from GOD, and, from his majesty, I could not escape.
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If I made gold my stay, and, to precious metal, said, My confidence!
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If I rejoiced because great was my substance, and, an abundance, my hand had discovered;
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If I looked at the sun, when it flashed forth light, or at the moon, majestically marching along;
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And befooled secretly was my heart, so that my hand kissed my mouth,
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That too, had been a judicial iniquity, For I should have been false to GOD, above.
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If rejoiced in the misfortune of him that hated me, or exulted when calamity found him;—
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Neither did I suffer my palate to sin, by asking, with a curse, for his life:
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If the men of my household have not said, Oh for some of his flesh—we cannot get filled,
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Outside, the sojourner lodged not for the night, My doors—to the wayfarer, I threw open.
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If I covered, like Adam, my transgressions, by hiding in my bosom mine iniquity,
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Then let me be made to tremble at a great throng, yea let, the contempt of families, terrify me, so that, keeping silence, I shall not go out of the door!
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Oh that I had one to hear me, Lo! my crossmark, May, the Almighty, answer me! And would that, a book, mine opponent had written!
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Oh! would I not, upon my shoulder, lift it, or bind it as a crown upon me;
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The number of my footsteps, I would declare to him, Like a noble, would I draw near to him.
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If, against me, my ground used to cry out, and, together, my ridges did weep;
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If, the strength thereof, I used to eat, without payment, and, the soul of the holders thereof, I made groan;
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Instead of wheat, let there come forth bramble, and, instead of barley, a bad-smelling weed! Ended are the words of Job.