Job 27
1 Job began to speak again.
Job also added, taking up his parable, and said:
2 “I promise you—as God lives, who has denied me justice, the Almighty, who has made my life bitter,
As God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment, and the Almighty, who hath brought my soul to bitterness,
3 for as long as I have life, while the breath of God remains in my nostrils—
As long as breath remaineth in me, and the spirit of God in my nostrils,
4 my lips will never speak lies, my tongue will never be dishonest.
My lips shall not speak iniquity, neither shall my tongue contrive lying.
5 I will never agree that you are right; I will insist on my innocence until the day I die.
God forbid that I should judge you to be just: till I die I will not depart from my innocence.
6 I'm convinced I'm right and will never give up believing this; my conscience will not condemn me as long as I live.
My justification, which I have begun to hold, I will not forsake: for my heart doth not reprehend me in all my life.
7 May my enemy become like the wicked; may those who oppose me become like those who do evil.
Let my enemy be as the ungodly, and my adversary as the wicked one.
8 For what hope do those who reject God have when he cuts them down, when God brings their lives to an end?
For what is the hope of the hypocrite if through covetousness he take by violence, and God deliver not his soul?
9 When times of trouble come to them, will God hear their cry for help?
Will God hear his cry, when distress shall come upon him?
10 Do they have a good relationship with the Almighty? Can they call on God at any time?
Or can he delight himself in the Almighty, and call upon God at all times?
11 Let me explain God's power to you. I will not keep anything back that the Almighty has planned.
I will teach you by the hand of God, what the Almighty hath, and I will not conceal it.
12 If all of you have recognized this, why do you talk such vain nonsense?
Behold you all know it, and why do you speak vain things without cause?
13 This is what God provides as the destiny for the wicked, this is the inheritance that the ruthless will receive from the Almighty—
This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the inheritance of the violent, which they shall receive of the Almighty.
14 even if they have many children, they will experience violent deaths or die of starvation.
If his sons be multiplied, they shall be for the sword, and his grandsons shall not be filled with bread.
15 Those who survive will die from disease, and even their widows will not mourn for them.
They that shall remain of him, shall be buried in death, and his widows shall not weep.
16 Even though they pile up silver like dust, and clothes like heaps of clay,
If he shall heap together silver as earth, and prepare raiment as clay,
17 those who do good will wear the clothes and the innocent will divide the silver among them.
He shall prepare indeed, but the just man shall be clothed with it: and the innocent shall divide the silver.
18 They build their houses like a moth; like some flimsy shelter made by a watchman.
He hath built his house as a moth, and as a keeper he hath made a booth.
19 They go to bed rich, but never again! For when they wake up, it's all gone.
The rich man when he shall sleep shall take away nothing with him: he shall open his eyes and find nothing.
20 Waves of panic flood over them; in the night a whirlwind snatches them away.
Poverty like water shall take hold on him, a tempest shall oppress him in the night.
21 The east wind picks them up and they're gone, carried away from where they were.
A burning wind shall take him up, and carry him away, and as a whirlwind shall snatch him from his place.
22 The wind blows at them with full force; they try desperately to escape.
And he shall cast upon him, and shall not spare: out of his hand he would willingly flee.
23 People clap their hands at them and hiss at them wherever they are.
He shall clasp his hands upon him, and shall hiss at him, beholding his place.
