1"I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?

2What would be my portion from God above and my heritage from the Almighty on high?

3Is not calamity for the unrighteous, and disaster for the workers of iniquity?

4Does not he see my ways and number all my steps?

5"If I have walked with falsehood and my foot has hastened to deceit;

6(Let me be weighed in a just balance, and let God know my integrity!)

7if my step has turned aside from the way and my heart has gone after my eyes, and if any spot has stuck to my hands,

8then let me sow, and another eat, and let what grows for me be rooted out.

9"If my heart has been enticed toward a woman, and I have lain in wait at my neighbor's door,

10then let my wife grind for another, and let others bow down on her.

11For that would be a heinous crime; that would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges;

12for that would be a fire that consumes as far as Abaddon, and it would burn to the root all my increase.

13"If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant, when they brought a complaint against me,

14what then shall I do when God rises up? When he makes inquiry, what shall I answer him?

15Did not he who made me in the womb make him? And did not one fashion us in the womb?

16"If I have withheld anything that the poor desired, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,

17or have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless has not eaten of it

18(for from my youth the fatherless grew up with me as with a father, and from my mother's womb I guided the widow),

19if I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing, or the needy without covering,

20if his body has not blessed me, and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep,

21if I have raised my hand against the fatherless, because I saw my help in the gate,

22then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder, and let my arm be broken from its socket.

23For I was in terror of calamity from God, and I could not have faced his majesty.