< Job 27 >

1 And Job adds to lift up his allegory and says:
Job also added, taking up his parable, and said:
2 “God lives! He turned aside my judgment, And the Mighty—He made my soul bitter.
As God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment, and the Almighty, who hath brought my soul to bitterness,
3 For all the while my breath [is] in me, And the wind of God in my nostrils.
As long as breath remaineth in me, and the spirit of God in my nostrils,
4 My lips do not speak perverseness, And my tongue does not utter deceit.
My lips shall not speak iniquity, neither shall my tongue contrive lying.
5 Defilement to me—if I justify you, Until I expire I do not turn aside my integrity from me.
God forbid that I should judge you to be just: till I die I will not depart from my innocence.
6 On my righteousness I have laid hold, And I do not let it go, My heart does not reproach me while 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 My enemy is as the wicked, And my withstander as the perverse.
Let my enemy be as the ungodly, and my adversary as the wicked one.
8 For what [is] the hope of the profane, When He cuts off? When God casts off his soul?
For what is the hope of the hypocrite if through covetousness he take by violence, and God deliver not his soul?
9 [Does] God hear his cry, When distress comes on him?
Will God hear his cry, when distress shall come upon him?
10 Does he delight himself on the Mighty? Call God at all times?
Or can he delight himself in the Almighty, and call upon God at all times?
11 I show you by the hand of God, That which [is] with the Mighty I do not hide.
I will teach you by the hand of God, what the Almighty hath, and I will not conceal it.
12 Behold, you—all of you—have seen, And why [is] this—you are altogether vain?
Behold you all know it, and why do you speak vain things without cause?
13 This [is] the portion of wicked man with God, And the inheritance of terrible ones They receive from the Mighty.
This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the inheritance of the violent, which they shall receive of the Almighty.
14 If his sons multiply—a sword [is] for them. And his offspring [are] not satisfied [with] bread.
If his sons be multiplied, they shall be for the sword, and his grandsons shall not be filled with bread.
15 His remnant are buried in death, And his widows do not weep.
They that shall remain of him, shall be buried in death, and his widows shall not weep.
16 If he heaps up silver as dust, And prepares clothing as clay,
If he shall heap together silver as earth, and prepare raiment as clay,
17 He prepares—and the righteous puts [it] on, And the innocent apportions the silver.
He shall prepare indeed, but the just man shall be clothed with it: and the innocent shall divide the silver.
18 He has built his house as a moth, And as a shelter a watchman has made.
He hath built his house as a moth, and as a keeper he hath made a booth.
19 He lies down rich, and he is not gathered, He has opened his eyes, and he is not.
The rich man when he shall sleep shall take away nothing with him: he shall open his eyes and find nothing.
20 Terrors overtake him as waters, By night a whirlwind has stolen him away.
Poverty like water shall take hold on him, a tempest shall oppress him in the night.
21 An east wind takes him up, and he goes, And it frightens him from his place,
A burning wind shall take him up, and carry him away, and as a whirlwind shall snatch him from his place.
22 And it casts at him, and does not spare, He diligently flees from its hand.
And he shall cast upon him, and shall not spare: out of his hand he would willingly flee.
23 It claps its hands at him, And it hisses at him from his place.”
He shall clasp his hands upon him, and shall hiss at him, beholding his place.

< Job 27 >