Rhyming Job, Chapter 31

Rhyming Job, Chapter 31

“With them, my eyes, I made a covenant,
at women, young, I’d not look lustfully.
From God above, our lot, but what is that,
our heritage from the Almighty, high?
Is it not ruin for those, the wicked men,
disaster for those who do wrong, at fault?
Does he not see my ways, each step of mine?

“If I, with falsehood, how it is I’ve walked,
or hurried, has my foot, after deceit —
In honest scales, may God record my mass,
and that I am as blameless, still, he’ll see —
if my steps have turned off from it, the path,
if my heart has been led by them, my eyes,
or if my hands have been, themselves, defiled,
then may let others eat what I have sown,
my crops uprooted from the place they’ve known.

“If my heart has, by woman, been enticed,
or if my neighbor’s door, at it, I’ve lurked,
then may my wife, another man’s grain, grind,
then any other man may sleep with her.
For that would have been wicked, to be judged
a sin. Like one that burns, it is a fire,
unto Destruction; that, my harvest, would,

“uprooted, have. If justice, I’ve denied,
to servant, female, male, irrelevant,
when they, against me, had their grievances,
when God confronts me, what will I do then?
Called to account, what is my consequence?
Did not he who made me as well make them
inside the womb? Did not the same one form
us both within our mothers? If contempt,
for their desires is what I have, the poor’s,
or let the widow’s eyes, with weariness,
grow, if unto myself, I’ve kept my bread,
if I don’t share it with the fatherless —
but from my youth, I reared them as he would,
a father, and the widow, from my birth,
I guided her — if e’er seen one, I had,
for lack of clothing, perishing from earth,
those needy ones who, garments, what they lack
and their hearts did, no blessing for me, have
for warming them with fleece, from my sheep, cut,
if ‘gainst the fatherless, upraised a hand,
e’en knowing of my influence in court,
then let my arm fall from its shoulder joint,
let it be broken off right at that point.
Destruction, dreaded, that, my God would bring,
for fear, his splendor, I’d ne’er do such things.

“If I’ve put all my trust in gold or tell
to purest gold, ‘You’re my security,’
if I’ve rejoiced o’er my exceeding wealth,
the fortune that my hands have gained for me,
if I regarded, in its rad’iancy,
the sun’s, its splendor, how the moon traversed,
so that my heart, enticed, in secrecy,
and my hand offered them an homage kiss,
then these would be my sins that should be judged
for I’d have been unfaithful, God above.

“If I, at his, my enemy’s, rejoiced,
misfortune, or the trouble, over that
which came to him — my mouth, I’ve not allowed
to sin that way, invoking curses ‘gainst
their life — ‘Who’s not been filled before with meat’
(if those ‘mongst household, mine, ne’er said) ‘from Job?’ —
but strangers, none, e’er sleeping in the street,
for, to the traveler, it’s wide and ope’d,
my door — if I, as people do, enshroud
my sin by hiding guilt deep in my heart
because I was so fearful of the crowd,
I’d dread the clans’ contempt, their low regard,
that I kept silent, go outside, I’d not —

(“Oh, that someone, my pleas, would hear! I sign
now my defense — let the Almighty God,
now answer me; let him, now, me, indict,
in writing, my accuser, put it down.
I’d surely wear it on my shoulder, I
would put it on my head just like a crown.
I’d give account of ev’ry step of mine
to him; a presentation that comports
with how you’d give a ruler a report.) —

“if my land cries out ‘gainst me and they’re wet,
its furrows, all of them, with weeping tears,
if I’ve devoured its yield, no payment spent,
if I broke tenants’ spirits, made them fear,
not wheat but briars, from the soil, would raise,
and stinkweed in my field, in barley’s place.”

Job’s words here, ended; none more, he conveyed.