Job 27

1 And Job further continued and said in his parable,

Job replied again [to his three friends],

2 [As] God lives, who has thus judge me; and the Almighty, who has embittered my soul;

“Almighty God has refused to treat me justly/fairly. He has caused me to feel bitter/resentful. But [just as surely] as he lives,

3 verily, while my breath is yet in [me], and the breath of God which remains to me is in my nostrils,

as long as God’s Spirit enables me to breathe,

4 my lips shall not speak evil words, neither shall my soul meditate unrighteous thoughts.

I will not lie; I [SYN] will not say anything to deceive anyone.

5 Far be it from me that I should justify you till I die; for I will not let go my innocence,

I will never admit that what you [three] have said is true; until the day that I die, I will insist that I have not done things that are wrong.

6 but keeping fast to [my] righteousness I will by no means let it go: for I am not conscious to myself of having done any thing amiss.

I will say that I am innocent, and never (say anything different/change what I say); my conscience will never reproach me as long as I live.

7 Nay rather, but let mine enemies be as the overthrow of the ungodly, and they that rise up against me, as the destruction of transgressors.

“I want my enemies to be [punished] like all wicked [people are punished]; I want [God to punish] those who oppose me like [he punishes all] unrighteous [people].

8 For what is the hope of the ungodly, that he holds to it? will he indeed trust in the Lord [and] be saved?

When [it is time for] God [to] get rid of godless/wicked people and [to] cause them to die, there is absolutely nothing good [RHQ] that they can confidently expect [to happen to them].

9 Will God hear his prayer? or, when distress has come upon him,

When they experience troubles, (will God hear them call [out to him for help]?/God certainly will not hear them call out [to him for help].) [RHQ]

10 has he any confidence before him? or will [God] hear him as he calls upon him?

(Will they be happy about what Almighty [God] does?/They certainly will not be happy about what Almighty [God] does.) [RHQ] (Will they [begin to] pray to him frequently?/They certainly will not [begin to] pray to him frequently.) [RHQ] [Certainly not!]

11 Yet now I will tell you what is in the hand of the Lord: I will not lie concerning the things which are with the Almighty.

“I will teach you [three] something about the power [MTY] of Almighty God [MTY]; I will reveal what he is thinking.

12 Behold, ye all know that ye are adding vanity to vanity.

But you [three] have seen for yourselves [what God has done]; so (why are you saying such nonsense?/you should not be saying such nonsense.) [RHQ]

13 This is the portion of an ungodly man from the Lord, and the possession of oppressors shall come upon them from the Almighty.

“[I will tell you] what Almighty God does to wicked people, the things that he does to people who oppress others.

14 And if their children be many, they shall be for slaughter: and if they grow up, they shall beg.

[Even] if they have many children, [many of] those children will die in wars [MTY], and their [other] children will [die because they do] not have enough food to eat.

15 And they that survive of him shall utterly perish, and no one shall pity their widows.

Their children who are still alive will die from diseases, and their widows will not [even] mourn for them.

16 Even if he should gather silver as earth, and prepare gold as clay;

Sometimes [wicked people] accumulate a huge amount [SIM] of silver and pile up clothes like [SIM] those clothes were a pile of clay,

17 All these things shall the righteous gain, and the truehearted shall possess his wealth.

but [those wicked people will die, and then] righteous people will wear those clothes, and honest/innocent people will get their silver and divide it [among themselves].

18 And his house is gone like moths, and like a spider's web.

The houses that they build are [as frail/fragile] as [SIM] spider webs, or they are like flimsy huts that watchmen live in [while they guard people’s fields].

19 The rich man shall lie down, and shall not continue: he has opened his eyes, and he is not.

Wicked people are rich when they lie down [at night], but when they wake up [in the morning, they find out that] their money has disappeared.

20 Pains have come upon him as water, and darkness has carried him away by night.

“Things that terrify them [PRS] strike them like a flood [SIM]; during the night a whirlwind carries them away.

21 And a burning wind shall catch him, and he shall depart, and it shall utterly drive him out of his place.

[It is as though] the wind from the east picks them up and carries them away from their homes, and they disappear.

22 And [God] shall cast [trouble] upon him, and not spare: he would fain flee out of his hand.

That wind strikes them without pitying them while they are running away, trying to escape from its force/power [MTY].

23 He shall cause [men] to clap their hands against them, and shall hiss him out of his place.

That wind [is like someone] clapping his hands [MET] at them [to ridicule them], howling at them wherever they run to.”