Job 27
1 And Job further continued and said in his parable,
And Job adds to lift up his allegory and says:
2 [As] God lives, who has thus judge me; and the Almighty, who has embittered my soul;
“God lives! He turned aside my judgment, And the Mighty—He made my soul bitter.
3 verily, while my breath is yet in [me], and the breath of God which remains to me is in my nostrils,
For all the while my breath [is] in me, And the wind of God in my nostrils.
4 my lips shall not speak evil words, neither shall my soul meditate unrighteous thoughts.
My lips do not speak perverseness, And my tongue does not utter deceit.
5 Far be it from me that I should justify you till I die; for I will not let go my innocence,
Defilement to me—if I justify you, Until I expire I do not turn aside my integrity from me.
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.
On my righteousness I have laid hold, And I do not let it go, My heart does not reproach me while 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.
My enemy is as the wicked, And my withstander as the perverse.
8 For what is the hope of the ungodly, that he holds to it? will he indeed trust in the Lord [and] be saved?
For what [is] the hope of the profane, When He cuts off? When God casts off his soul?
9 Will God hear his prayer? or, when distress has come upon him,
[Does] God hear his cry, When distress comes on him?
10 has he any confidence before him? or will [God] hear him as he calls upon him?
Does he delight himself on the Mighty? Call God at all times?
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 show you by the hand of God, That which [is] with the Mighty I do not hide.
12 Behold, you all know that you are adding vanity to vanity.
Behold, you—all of you—have seen, And why [is] this—you are altogether vain?
13 This is the portion of an ungodly man from the Lord, and the possession of oppressors shall come upon them from the Almighty.
This [is] the portion of wicked man with God, And the inheritance of terrible ones They receive from the Mighty.
14 And if their children be many, they shall be for slaughter: and if they grow up, they shall beg.
If his sons multiply—a sword [is] for them. And his offspring [are] not satisfied [with] bread.
15 And they that survive of him shall utterly perish, and no one shall pity their widows.
His remnant are buried in death, And his widows do not weep.
16 Even if he should gather silver as earth, and prepare gold as clay;
If he heaps up silver as dust, And prepares clothing as clay,
17 All these things shall the righteous gain, and the true-hearted shall possess his wealth.
He prepares—and the righteous puts [it] on, And the innocent apportions the silver.
18 And his house is gone like moths, and like a spider's web.
He has built his house as a moth, And as a shelter a watchman has made.
19 The rich man shall lie down, and shall not continue: he has opened his eyes, and he is not.
He lies down rich, and he is not gathered, He has opened his eyes, and he is not.
20 Pains have come upon him as water, and darkness has carried him away by night.
Terrors overtake him as waters, By night a whirlwind has stolen him away.
21 And a burning wind shall catch him, and he shall depart, and it shall utterly drive him out of his place.
An east wind takes him up, and he goes, And it frightens him from his place,
22 And [God] shall cast [trouble] upon him, and not spare: he would fain flee out of his hand.
And it casts at him, and does not spare, He diligently flees from its hand.
23 He shall cause [men] to clap their hands against them, and shall hiss him out of his place.
It claps its hands at him, And it hisses at him from his place.”
