Thomson(i)
1 I made a covenant with mine eyes, that I would not gaze on a virgin:
2 yet what portion hath God dealt out from above?
3 And what, alas! the lasting portion on high? "Destruction is for the wicked and banishment for transgressors."
4 Why will he not behold my way and number all my steps?
5 Have I walked with scoffers or hath my foot hasted to deceit?
6 For I have been weighed in a just balance; and the Lord knoweth mine integrity.
7 If my foot hath deviated from the way or my heart gone astray after mine eyes; or if with my hands I have touched bribes:
8 may I sow and others eat; and let me have no root in the land.
9 If my heart hath gone after another man's wife, or if I have lain in wait at her gates;
10 let my wife gratify another, and mine infant children be dishonoured.
11 For the defiling of another man's wife exciteth a fury of wrath not to be restrained.
12 For it is a fire burning in all the limbs; which will not go out, till it hath utterly consumed.
13 If I have slighted the cause of my man servant or maid servant when they had a controversy with me,
14 what shall I do when the Lord maketh inquest? And when he visiteth, what answer shall I make?
15 Was not I formed in the womb as they were? And were we not alike fashioned in the belly?
16 Far from depriving the poor of what they had, or causing the heart of a widow to fail;
17 if I have eaten my morsel alone, and have not shared it with the orphan;
18 [for from my youth I as a father nourished them, and was their guide from my mother's womb]
19 If I have seen the naked perishing and have not clothed them;
20 and if the poor have not blessed me, and their shoulders been warmed with the fleece of my lambs;
21 If I have raised a hand against the fatherless, because I had around me greater support:
22 may my shoulder bone be dislocated, and my arm broken at the elbow.
23 For the fear of the Lord restrained me, and the burden of that I could not endure.
24 If I have made gold my measure, or placed my confidence in precious stones:
25 or if I have exulted because my wealth was great, or laid my hand on what was not counted out to me:
26 or, [do we not see the refulgent sun sometimes eclipsed, and the moon continually changing? for it is not in them:]
27 if then my heart hath been secretly enticed, and I have laid my hand on my mouth and kissed it
28 let this be reckoned to me as the greatest transgression, that I have lied in the presence of the Lord, the Most High.
29 If I have rejoiced at the downfall of mine enemies, and my heart hath said, Aha!
30 Let mine ear hear myself cursed, and let me be a by-word among the people, when I am afflicted.
31 If my maid servants have often said, that we had some of his flesh meat to eat! while I was living luxuriously:
32 [indeed the stranger lodged not in the street, and my door was open to every comer:]
33 If when I sinned inadvertently, I concealed my sin;
34 for I was not so awed by the multitude as not to mention it before them; [Now if I had suffered a poor man to go from my door with an empty lap,
35 who could have heard me with patience?] And if I had not feared the hand of the Lord
36 I would have put on my shoulders the writing which I had against any one, and have acknowledged it as a crown:
37 But if I did not tear it in pieces and give it up, without taking any thing from the debtor:
38 if ever my ground hath cried out against me, and the furrows thereof joined in the complaint:
39 if I have eaten alone the strength thereof without money, and by rapine caused the heart of the owner of the soil to grieve:
40 let nettles spring up for me instead of wheat, and bramble bushes instead of barley.