Job 26–27

26Then Job answered and said,

²How hast thou helped him that is without power!

How hast thou saved the arm that hath no strength!

³How hast thou counselled him that hath no wisdom,

And plentifully declared sound knowledge!

⁴To whom hast thou uttered words?

And whose spirit came forth from thee?

⁵They that are deceased tremble

Beneath the waters and the inhabitants thereof.

⁶Sheol is naked before God,

And Abaddon hath no covering.

⁷He stretcheth out the north over empty space,

And hangeth the earth upon nothing.

⁸He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds;

And the cloud is not rent under them.

⁹He incloseth the face of his throne,

And spreadeth his cloud upon it.

¹⁰He hath described a boundary upon the face of the waters,

Unto the confines of light and darkness.

¹¹The pillars of heaven tremble

And are astonished at his rebuke.

¹²He stirreth up the sea with his power,

And by his understanding he smiteth through Rahab.

¹³By his Spirit the heavens are garnished;

His hand hath pierced the swift serpent.

¹⁴Lo, these are but the outskirts of his ways:

And how small a whisper do we hear of him!

But the thunder of his power who can understand?

27And Job again took up his parable, and said,

²As God liveth, who hath taken away my right,

And the Almighty, who hath vexed my soul:

³(For my life is yet whole 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:

Till I die I will not put away mine integrity from me.

⁶My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go:

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

⁷Let mine enemy be as the wicked,

And let him that riseth up against me be as the unrighteous.

⁸For what is the hope of the godless, though he get him gain,

When God taketh away his soul?

⁹Will God hear his cry,

When trouble cometh upon him?

¹⁰Will he delight himself in the Almighty,

And call upon God at all times?

¹¹I will teach you concerning the hand of God;

That which is with the Almighty will I not conceal.

¹²Behold, all ye yourselves have seen it;

Why then are ye become altogether vain?

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

And the heritage of oppressors, which they receive from the Almighty:

¹⁴If his children be multiplied, it is for the sword;

And his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread.

¹⁵Those that remain of him shall be buried in death,

And his widows shall make no lamentation.

¹⁶Though he heap up silver as the dust,

And prepare raiment as the clay;

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

And the innocent shall divide the silver.

¹⁸He buildeth his house as the moth,

And as a booth which the keeper maketh.

¹⁹He lieth down rich, but he shall not be gathered to his fathers;

He openeth his eyes, and he is not.

²⁰Terrors overtake him like waters;

A tempest stealeth him away in the night.

²¹The east wind carrieth him away, and he departeth;

And it sweepeth him out of his place.

²²For God shall hurl at him, and not spare:

He would fain flee out of his hand.

²³Men shall clap their hands at him,

And shall hiss him out of his place.