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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

Numquid non perditio est iniquo, et alienatio operantibus injustitiam?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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:

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

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

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

seram, et alius comedat, et progenies mea eradicetur.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hoc enim nefas est, et iniquitas maxima.

That were sin in me, and foul wrong done;

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

si vidi solem cum fulgeret, et lunam incedentem clare,

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

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

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

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

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

quæ est iniquitas maxima, et negatio contra Deum altissimum.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

foris non mansit peregrinus: ostium meum viatori patuit.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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