Job 27

1 Job resumed speaking and he said,

And Job further continued and said in his parable,

2 “As surely as God lives, who has taken away my justice, the Almighty, who made my life bitter,

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

3 while my life is yet in me, and the breath from God is in my nostrils, this is what I will do.

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

4 My lips will not speak wickedness, neither will my tongue speak deceit;

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

5 I will never admit that you three are right; until I die I will never deny my integrity.

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

6 I hold fast to my righteousness and will not let it go; my thoughts will not reproach me so long as I live.

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.

7 Let my enemy be like a wicked man; let him who rises up against me be like an unrighteous man.

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.

8 For what is the hope of a godless man when God cuts him off, when God takes away his life?

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

9 Will God hear his cry when trouble comes upon him?

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

10 Will he delight himself in the Almighty and call upon God at all times?

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

11 I will teach you concerning the hand of God; I will not conceal the thoughts of the Almighty.

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.

12 See, all of you have seen this yourselves; why then have you spoken all this nonsense?

Behold, you all know that you are adding vanity to vanity.

13 This is the portion of a wicked man with God, the heritage of the oppressor that he receives from the Almighty:

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

14 If his children multiply, it is for the sword; his offspring will never have enough food.

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

15 Those who survive him will be buried by plague, and their widows will make no lament for them.

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

16 Though the wicked man heaps up silver like the dust, and heaps up clothing like clay,

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

17 he may heap up clothing, but righteous people will put it on, and innocent people will divide up the silver among themselves.

All these things shall the righteous gain, and the true-hearted shall possess his wealth.

18 He builds his house like a spider, like a hut that a guard makes.

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

19 He lies down in bed rich, but he will not keep doing so; he opens his eyes, and everything is gone.

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

20 Terrors overtake him like waters; a storm takes him away in the night.

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

21 The east wind carries him away, and he leaves; it sweeps him out of his place.

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

22 It throws itself at him and does not stop; he tries to flee out of its hand.

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

23 It claps its hands at him in mockery; it hisses him out of his place.

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