Job 26–27

26What a fine help you are to me—

poor, weak man that I am!

³You give such good advice

and share your knowledge with a fool like me!

⁴Who do you think will hear all your words?

Who inspired you to speak like this?

^z

⁵The spirits of the dead tremble

in the waters under the earth.

⁶The world of the dead lies open to God;

no covering shields it from his sight.

⁷God stretched out the northern sky

and hung the earth in empty space.

⁸It is God who fills the clouds with water

and keeps them from bursting with the weight.

⁹He hides the full moon behind a cloud.

¹⁰He divided light from darkness

by a circle drawn on the face of the sea.

¹¹When he threatens the pillars that hold up the sky,

they shake and tremble with fear.

¹²It is his strength that conquered the sea;^a

by his skill he destroyed the monster Rahab.^b

¹³It is his breath that made the sky clear,

and his hand that killed the escaping monster.^c

¹⁴But these are only hints of his power,

only the whispers that we have heard.

Who can know how truly great God is?

27I swear by the living Almighty God,

who refuses me justice and makes my life bitter-

³as long as God gives me breath,

⁴my lips will never say anything evil,

my tongue will never tell a lie.

⁵I will never say that you men are right;

I will insist on my innocence to my dying day.

⁶I will never give up my claim to be right;

my conscience is clear.

⁷May all who oppose me and fight against me

be punished like the wicked and the unrighteous.

⁸What hope is there for the godless

in the hour when God demands their life?

⁹When trouble comes, will God hear their cries?

¹⁰They should have desired the joy he gives;

they should have constantly prayed to him.

¹¹Let me teach you how great is God’s power,

and explain what Almighty God has planned.

¹²But no, after all, you have seen for yourselves;

so why do you talk such nonsense?

^d

¹³This is how Almighty God

punishes wicked, violent people.

¹⁴They may have many sons,

but all will be killed in war;

their children never have enough to eat.

¹⁵Those who survive will die from disease,

and even their widows will not mourn their death.

¹⁶The wicked may have too much silver to count

and more clothes than anyone needs;

¹⁷but some good person will wear the clothes,

and some honest person will get the silver.

¹⁸The wicked build houses like a spider’s web^e

or like the hut of a slave guarding the fields.

¹⁹One last time^f they will lie down rich,

and when they wake up, they will find their wealth gone.

²⁰Terror will strike like a sudden flood;

a wind in the night will blow them away;

²¹the east wind will sweep them from their homes;

²²it will blow down on them without pity

while they try their best to escape.

²³The wind howls at them as they run,

frightening them with destructive power.^g