Pepigi fœdus cum oculis meis, ut ne cogitarem quidem de virgine.

I MADE a covenant with my eyes, that I would not so much as think upon a virgin.

And this was a man that had bound his eyes over by covenant; never should even his fancy dwell upon the thought of a maid!

Quam enim partem haberet in me Deus desuper, et hæreditatem Omnipotens de excelsis?

For what part should God from above have in me, and what inheritance the Almighty from on high?

Well I knew that God Almighty in high heaven would have neither part nor lot with me else;

Numquid non perditio est iniquo, et alienatio operantibus injustitiam?

Is not destruction to the wicked, and aversion to them that work iniquity?

ruin for the sinner his doom is, disinheritance for the wrong-doer.

Nonne ipse considerat vias meas, et cunctos gressus meos dinumerat?

Doth not he consider my ways, and number all my steps?

Tell me, does not this God watch over every path I take, trace my footsteps one by one?

Si ambulavi in vanitate, et festinavit in dolo pes meus,

If I have walked in vanity, and my foot hath made haste to deceit:

Walk I by crooked ways, run I eagerly after false dealing,

appendat me in statera justa, et sciat Deus simplicitatem meam.

Let him weigh me in a just balance, and let God know my simplicity.

he can weigh my offence with true scales; let God himself bear witness to my innocence!

Si declinavit gressus meus de via, et si secutum est oculos meos cor meum, et si manibus meis adhæsit macula,

If my step hath turned out of the way, and if my heart hath followed my eyes, and if a spot hath cleaved to my hands:

Have I strayed from my course; has my heart followed the lure of my eyes; are my hands stained with wrong?

seram, et alius comedat, et progenies mea eradicetur.

Then let me sow and let another eat: and let my offspring be rooted out.

Then let another man enjoy the harvest I have sowed, then let my race be doomed to extinction!

Si deceptum est cor meum super muliere, et si ad ostium amici mei insidiatus sum,

If my heart hath been deceived upon a woman, and if I have laid wait at my friend’s door:

Have wiles of woman entangled my heart; did I lie in wait under my neighbour’s window?

scortum alterius sit uxor mea, et super illam incurventur alii.

Let my wife be the harlot of another, and let other men lie with her.

Then be my own wife another’s whore, strangers be her bedfellows!

Hoc enim nefas est, et iniquitas maxima.

For this is a heinous crime, and a most grievous iniquity.

That were sin in me, and foul wrong done;

Ignis est usque ad perditionem devorans, et omnia eradicans genimina.

It is a fire that devoureth even to destruction, and rooteth up all things that spring.

that fire, once lighted, will rage till all is consumed, never a crop shall escape it.

Si contempsi subire judicium cum servo meo et ancilla mea, cum disceptarent adversum me:

If I have despised to abide judgment with my manservant, or my maidservant, when they had any controversy against me:

Did I refuse justice to man-servant of mine or woman-servant, when they had complaint to bring?

quid enim faciam cum surrexerit ad judicandum Deus? et cum quæsierit, quid respondebo illi?

For what shall I do when God shall rise to judge? and when he shall examine, what shall I answer him?

Then it shall go hard with me when it is God’s turn to pronounce judgement; how shall I meet his scrutiny,

Numquid non in utero fecit me, qui et illum operatus est, et formavit me in vulva unus?

Did not he that made me in the womb make him also: and did not one and the same form me in the womb?

who fashioned in the womb this one and that, man and master alike?

Si negavi quod volebant pauperibus, et oculos viduæ expectare feci;

If I have denied to the poor what they desired, and have made the eyes of the widow wait:

Did I deny some poor man the alms he craved, keep the widow waiting for her pittance,

si comedi buccellam meam solus, et non comedit pupillus ex ea

If I have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof:

sit over my meal alone, and never an orphan boy to share it?

(quia ab infantia mea crevit mecum miseratio, et de utero matris meæ egressa est mecum);

(For from my infancy mercy grew up with me: and it came out with me from my mother’s womb:)

That were an ill return for the loving care that has borne me company as I grew up from childhood, ever since I left my mother’s womb.

si despexi pereuntem, eo quod non habuerit indumentum, et absque operimento pauperem;

If I have despised him that was perishing for want of clothing, and the poor man that had no covering:

Did I spurn the naked that were ready to perish of cold, too poor to find clothing;

si non benedixerunt mihi latera ejus, et de velleribus ovium mearum calefactus est;

If his sides have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep:

did I never earn thanks, from the back that went bare till fleece of my flock warmed it?

si levavi super pupillum manum meam, etiam cum viderem me in porta superiorem:

If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, even when I saw myself superior in the gate:

Did I threaten the friendless, whenever I could secure judgement against them in the market-place?

humerus meus a junctura sua cadat, et brachium meum cum suis ossibus confringatur.

Let my shoulder fall from its joint, and let my arm with its bones be broken.

Then let shoulder of mine hang from shoulder-blade, every bone in my arm broken!

Semper enim quasi tumentes super me fluctus timui Deum, et pondus ejus ferre non potui.

For I have always feared God as waves swelling over me, and his weight I was not able to bear.

Nay, but God’s terrors overwhelmed, his majesty overbore me.

Si putavi aurum robur meum, et obrizo dixi: Fiducia mea;

If I have thought gold my strength, and have said to fine gold: My confidence:

In wealth did I put my trust, hail the bright gold as my life’s protector;

si lætatus sum super multis divitiis meis, et quia plurima reperit manus mea;

If I have rejoiced over my great riches, and because my hand had gotten much.

doted I upon my great riches, upon all my toil had earned?

si vidi solem cum fulgeret, et lunam incedentem clare,

If I beheld the sun when it shined, and the moon going in brightness:

When I gazed on the sun in its splendour, on the moon in her royal progress,

et lætatum est in abscondito cor meum, et osculatus sum manum meam ore meo:

And my heart in secret hath rejoiced, and I have kissed my hand with my mouth:

did these things steal my heart away, so that mouth kissed hand in adoration?

quæ est iniquitas maxima, et negatio contra Deum altissimum.

Which is a very great iniquity, and a denial against the most high God.

That were great wrong done, to deny the God who is higher than all.

Si gavisus sum ad ruinam ejus qui me oderat, et exsultavi quod invenisset eum malum:

If I have been glad at the downfall of him that hated me, and have rejoiced that evil had found him.

Did I triumph over a fallen foe, rejoice at his ruin;

non enim dedi ad peccandum guttur meum, ut expeterem maledicens animam ejus.

For I have not given my mouth to sin, by wishing a curse to his soul.

lend my lips to ill uses, cursing my enemy’s life away?

Si non dixerunt viri tabernaculi mei: Quis det de carnibus ejus, ut saturemur?

If the men of my tabernacle have not said: Who will give us of his flesh that we may be filled?

Rather, it was of myself men were fain to speak evil, men of my own household, and to their hearts’ content.

foris non mansit peregrinus: ostium meum viatori patuit.

The stranger did not stay without, my door was open to the traveller.

Never had the stranger to lodge in the open, my doors were open to every wayfarer that passed.

Si abscondi quasi homo peccatum meum, et celavi in sinu meo iniquitatem meam;

If as a man I have hid my sin, and have concealed my iniquity in my bosom.

Men are frail; does sin lie on my conscience undisclosed, does the memory of guilt rankle in my bosom?

si expavi ad multitudinem nimiam, et despectio propinquorum terruit me: et non magis tacui, nec egressus sum ostium.

If I have been afraid at a very great multitude, and the contempt of kinsmen hath terrified me: and I have not rather held my peace, and not gone out of the door.

Was I daunted by fear of the throng, of my neighbours’ contemptuous looks? Did I hold my tongue, and keep within doors?

Quis mihi tribuat auditorem, ut desiderium meum audiat Omnipotens, et librum scribat ipse qui judicat,

Who would grant me a hearer, that the Almighty may hear my desire; and that he himself that judgeth would write a book,

O that my cause might be tried; that he, the Almighty, would grant my request, that he, my judge, would write my record down;

ut in humero meo portem illum, et circumdem illum quasi coronam mihi?

That I may carry it on my shoulder, and put it about me as a crown?

how proudly I would bear it with me, shoulder-high, wear it as a crown!

Per singulos gradus meos pronuntiabo illum, et quasi principi offeram eum.

At every step of mine I would pronounce it, and offer it as to a prince.

I would proclaim it wherever I went, fit for a king’s eyes to read.

Si adversum me terra mea clamat, et cum ipsa sulci ejus deflent:

If my land cry against me, and with it the furrows thereof mourn:

Can these lands of mine bear testimony against me, can their furrows tell a sad tale

si fructus ejus comedi absque pecunia, et animam agricolarum ejus afflixi:

If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, and have afflicted the soul of the tillers thereof:

of harvests enjoyed, and no price paid for them, of labourers cruelly treated?

pro frumento oriatur mihi tribulus, et pro hordeo spina. Finita sunt verba Job.

Let thistles grow up to me instead of wheat, and thorns instead of barley.

Then thistles for wheat, thorns for barley may it yield me. Ended herewith are the sayings of Job.