Job 27

Job Affirms His Righteousness

1Job continued his discourse and said,

2“As God lives, who has taken away my right and denied me justice, And the Almighty, who has caused bitterness and grief for my soul,

3As long as my life is within me, And the breath of God is [still] in my nostrils,

4My lips will not speak unjustly, Nor will my tongue utter deceit.

5Far be it from me that I should admit you are right [in your accusations against me]; Until I die, I will not remove my integrity from me.

The State of the Godless

6I hold fast my uprightness and my right standing with God and I will not let them go; My heart does not reproach me for any of my days.

7“May my enemy be as the wicked, And he who rises up against me be as the unrighteous (unjust).

8For what is the hope of the godless, even though he has gained [in this world], When God takes his life?

9Will God hear his cry When trouble and distress come upon him?

10Will he take delight in the Almighty? Will he call on God at all times?

11I will teach you regarding the hand (power) of God; I will not conceal what is with the Almighty [God’s actual treatment of the wicked].

12Behold, all of you have seen it; Why then do you act vainly and foolishly [cherishing worthless concepts]?

13“This [which I am about to explain] is the portion of a wicked man from God, And the inheritance which tyrants and oppressors receive from the Almighty:

14Though his children are many, they are destined for the sword; And his descendants will not have sufficient bread.

15Those who survive him will be buried because of the plague, And [their] widows will not be able to weep.

16Though he heaps up silver like dust And piles up clothing like clay,

17He may prepare it, but the just will wear it And the innocent will divide the silver.

18He builds his house like a spider’s web, Like a (temporary) hut which a watchman makes.

19He lies down rich, but never will again; He opens his eyes, and it is gone.

20Terrors overtake him like a [suddenly rising] flood; A windstorm steals him away in the night.

21The east wind lifts him up, and he is gone; It sweeps him out of his place.

22For it will hurl [thunderbolts of God’s wrath] at him unsparingly and without compassion; He flees in haste from its power.

23People will clap their hands at him [to mock and ridicule him] And hiss him out of his place.