Job 27
1 Job also added, taking up his parable, and said:
Job resumed speaking and he said,
2 As God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment, and the Almighty, who hath brought my soul to bitterness,
“As surely as God lives, who has taken away my justice, the Almighty, who made my life bitter,
3 As long as breath remaineth in me, and the spirit of God in my nostrils,
while my life is yet in me, and the breath from God is in my nostrils, this is what I will do.
4 My lips shall not speak iniquity, neither shall my tongue contrive lying.
My lips will not speak wickedness, neither will my tongue speak deceit;
5 God forbid that I should judge you to be just: till I die I will not depart from my innocence.
I will never admit that you three are right; until I die I will never deny my integrity.
6 My justification, which I have begun to hold, I will not forsake: for my heart doth not reprehend me in all my life.
I hold fast to my righteousness and will not let it go; my thoughts will not reproach me so long as I live.
7 Let my enemy be as the ungodly, and my adversary as the wicked one.
Let my enemy be like a wicked man; let him who rises up against me be like an unrighteous man.
8 For what is the hope of the hypocrite if through covetousness he take by violence, and God deliver not his soul?
For what is the hope of a godless man when God cuts him off, when God takes away his life?
9 Will God hear his cry, when distress shall come upon him?
Will God hear his cry when trouble comes upon him?
10 Or can he delight himself in the Almighty, and call upon God at all times?
Will he delight himself in the Almighty and call upon God at all times?
11 I will teach you by the hand of God, what the Almighty hath, and I will not conceal it.
I will teach you concerning the hand of God; I will not conceal the thoughts of the Almighty.
12 Behold you all know it, and why do you speak vain things without cause?
See, all of you have seen this yourselves; why then have you spoken all this nonsense?
13 This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the inheritance of the violent, which they shall receive of the Almighty.
This is the portion of a wicked man with God, the heritage of the oppressor that he receives from the Almighty:
14 If his sons be multiplied, they shall be for the sword, and his grandsons shall not be filled with bread.
If his children multiply, it is for the sword; his offspring will never have enough food.
15 They that shall remain of him, shall be buried in death, and his widows shall not weep.
Those who survive him will be buried by plague, and their widows will make no lament for them.
16 If he shall heap together silver as earth, and prepare raiment as clay,
Though the wicked man heaps up silver like the dust, and heaps up clothing like clay,
17 He shall prepare indeed, but the just man shall be clothed with it: and the innocent shall divide the silver.
he may heap up clothing, but righteous people will put it on, and innocent people will divide up the silver among themselves.
18 He hath built his house as a moth, and as a keeper he hath made a booth.
He builds his house like a spider, like a hut that a guard makes.
19 The rich man when he shall sleep shall take away nothing with him: he shall open his eyes and find nothing.
He lies down in bed rich, but he will not keep doing so; he opens his eyes, and everything is gone.
20 Poverty like water shall take hold on him, a tempest shall oppress him in the night.
Terrors overtake him like waters; a storm takes him away in the night.
21 A burning wind shall take him up, and carry him away, and as a whirlwind shall snatch him from his place.
The east wind carries him away, and he leaves; it sweeps him out of his place.
22 And he shall cast upon him, and shall not spare: out of his hand he would willingly flee.
It throws itself at him and does not stop; he tries to flee out of its hand.
23 He shall clasp his hands upon him, and shall hiss at him, beholding his place.
It claps its hands at him in mockery; it hisses him out of his place.
