E-29 I've become a brother to jackals and a friend to ostriches.
30 My skin is black on me, and my bones are burned with heat.
31 And my zither became sad, and my pipe became a voice of lamentation.
Chapter 31
1 I have made a covenant with my eyes, that I should not think of a virgin.
2 What is my fate from God from on high? And what is the inheritance from the Almighty from heaven?
3 Is it not for the wicked to perish, and for him that doeth evil to attack?
4 Did he not see my ways, and count all my steps?
5 If I walked in vanity, and if my foot hastened to wickedness,
6 Let them weigh me in the scales of righteousness, and God will know my integrity.
7 If my feet have strayed from the way, and my heart has followed my eyes, and if any unclean thing has come to my hands,
8 then let me sow, and another eat, and let my branches be rooted out.
9 If my heart was deceived by a woman, and I built snares at my neighbor's door,
10 Let my wife grind on another, and let others mock her,
11 For this is a crime, it is iniquity to be judged;
12 This is a fire that devours unto destruction, which would root out all my goodness.
13 If I have despised the rights of my servant and my maidservant, when they had a dispute with me,
14 What would I do when God arose? And when He looked at me, what could I answer Him?
15 Is it not He, who created me in the womb, who created him also, and equally formed us in the womb?
16 Have I refused their request to those in need, and have I weary the eyes of a widow?
17 Have I eaten my morsel alone, and have not the fatherless eaten of it?
18 For from childhood he grew up with me as with a father, and from my mother's womb I guided a widow.
19 If I have seen anyone perish without clothing, and the poor without covering,
20 не благословляли ли меня чресла его, и не был ли он согрет шерстью овец моих?
21 Если я поднимал руку мою на сироту, когда видел помощь себе у ворот,
22 то пусть плечо мое отпадет от спины, и рука моя пусть отломится от локтя,
23 ибо страшно для меня наказание от Бога: пред величием Его не устоял бы я.
24 Полагал ли я в золоте опору мою и говорил ли сокровищу: ты — надежда моя?