Chapter 27

¹Job again took up his parable, and said,

²“As God lives, who has taken away my right,

The Almighty, who has made my soul bitter.

³(For the length of my life is still in me,

And the spirit of God is in my nostrils);

⁴Surely my lips shall not speak unrighteousness,

Neither shall my tongue utter deceit.

⁵Far be it from me that I should justify you.

Until I die I will not put away my integrity from me.

⁶I hold fast to my righteousness, and will not let it go.

My heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.

⁷“Let my enemy be as the wicked,

Let him who rises up against me be as the unrighteous.

⁸For what is the hope of the godless, when he is cut off,

When God takes away his life?

⁹Will God hear his cry,

When trouble comes on him?

¹⁰Will he delight himself in the Almighty,

And call on God at all times?

¹¹I will teach you about the hand of God.

That which is with the Almighty will I not conceal.

¹²Behold, all of you have seen it yourselves;

Why then have you become altogether vain?

¹³“This is the portion of a wicked man with God,

The heritage of oppressors, which they receive from the Almighty.

¹⁴If his children are multiplied, it is for the sword.

His offspring shall not be satisfied with bread.

¹⁵Those who remain of him shall be buried in death.

His widows shall make no lamentation.

¹⁶Though he heap up silver as the dust,

And prepare clothing as the clay;

¹⁷He may prepare it, but the just shall put it on,

And the innocent shall divide the silver.

¹⁸He builds his house as the moth,

As a booth which the watchman makes.

¹⁹He lies down rich, but he shall not do so again.

He opens his eyes, and he is not.

²⁰Terrors overtake him like waters;

A tempest steals him away in the night.

²¹The east wind carries him away, and he departs;

It sweeps him out of his place.

²²For it hurls at him, and does not spare,

As he flees away from his hand.

²³Men shall clap their hands at him,

And shall hiss him out of his place.