1 "I have made an agreement with my eyes. Then how can I look with lust at a virgin?

2 What would God above do [to me]? What would be my inheritance from the Almighty on high?

3 Aren't there catastrophes for wicked people and disasters for those who do wrong?

4 Doesn't he see my ways and count all my steps?

5 "If I have walked with lies or my feet have run after deception,

6 [then] let God weigh me on honest scales, and he will know I have integrity.

7 "If my steps have left the [proper] path, or my heart has followed [the desire of] my eyes, or my hands are stained [with sin],

8 [then] let someone else eat what I have planted, and let my crops be uprooted.

9 "If I have been seduced by a woman or I have secretly waited near my neighbor's door,

10 [then] let my wife grind for another [man], and let other [men] kneel over her.

11 That would be a scandal, and that would be a criminal offense.

12 It would be a fire that burns even in Abaddon. It would uproot my entire harvest.

13 "If I have abused the rights of my servants, male or female, when they have disagreed with me,

14 then what could I do if God rises up? If he examines me, how could I answer him?

15 Didn't he who made me in my mother's belly make them? Didn't the same God form us in the womb?

16 "If I have refused the requests of the poor or made a widow's eyes stop [looking for help],

17 or have eaten my food alone without letting the orphan eat any of it....

18 (From my youth the orphan grew up with me as though I were his father, and from my birth I treated the widow kindly.)

19 If I have seen anyone die because he had no clothes or a poor person going naked....

20 (If his body didn't bless me, or the wool from my sheep didn't keep him warm....)

21 If I have shaken my fist at an orphan because I knew that others would back me up in court,

22 [then] let my shoulder fall out of its socket, and let my arm be broken at the elbow.

23 "A disaster from God terrifies me. In the presence of his majesty I can do nothing.

24 "If I put my confidence in gold or said to fine gold, 'I trust you'....

25 If I enjoyed being very rich because my hand had found great [wealth]....

26 If I saw the light shine or the moon move along in its splendor

27 so that my heart was secretly tempted, and I threw them a kiss with my hand,

28 then that, too, would be a criminal offense, and I would have denied God above.

29 "If I enjoyed the ruin of my enemy or celebrated when harm came to him

30 (even though I didn't speak sinfully by calling down a curse on his life)....

31 "If the people who were in my tent had said, 'We wish we had never filled [our stomachs] with his food'....

32 (The visitor never spent the night outside, because I opened my door to the traveler.)

33 "If I have covered my disobedience like Adam and kept my sin to myself,

34 because I dreaded the large, noisy crowd and because the contempt of the [local] mobs terrified me so that I kept quiet and didn't go outside....

35 "If only I had someone who would listen to me! Look, here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me. Let the prosecutor write [his complaint] on a scroll.

36 I would certainly carry it on my shoulder and place it on my head like a crown.

37 I would tell him the number of my steps and approach him like a prince.

38 "If my land has cried out against me, and its furrows have wept....

39 If I have eaten its produce without paying for it and made its owners breathe their last,

40 [then] let it grow thistles instead of wheat, and foul-smelling weeds instead of barley." This is the end of Job's words.