Job 26–27

CHAPTER 26

Who Can Understand God?

¹Then Job answered and said,

²“What a help you are to ^athe one without power!

How you have saved the arm ^bwithout strength!

³“What counsel you have given to one without wisdom!

What sound wisdom you have abundantly made known!

⁴“To whom have you declared words?

And whose breath comes out from you?

⁵“The ^1adeparted spirits tremble

Under the waters and their inhabitants.

⁶“Naked is ^aSheol before Him,

And ^1bAbaddon has no covering.

⁷“He ^astretches out the north over what is formless

And hangs the earth on nothing.

⁸“He ^awraps up the waters in His clouds,

And the cloud does not break out under them.

⁹“He ^1aobscures the face of His ²throne

And spreads His cloud over it.

¹⁰“He has marked a ^acircle on the surface of the waters

At the ^bboundary of light and darkness.

¹¹“The pillars of heaven tremble

And are astonished at His rebuke.

¹²“He ^aquieted the sea with His power,

And by His ^bunderstanding He crushed ^cRahab.

¹³“By His breath the ^aheavens are made beautiful;

His hand has pierced ^bthe fleeing serpent.

¹⁴“Behold, these are the fringes of His ways;

And how only with a whisper of ^aa word do we hear of Him!

But His mighty ^bthunder, who can understand?”

CHAPTER 27

I Hold Fast My Righteousness

¹Then Job continued to lift up his ^1adiscourse and said,

²“As God lives, ^awho has removed my justice,

And the Almighty, ^bwho has embittered my soul,

³For as long as breath is in me,

And the ^aspirit from God is in my nostrils,

⁴My lips certainly will not speak unrighteousness,

Nor will ^amy tongue utter deceit.

⁵“Far be it from me that I should declare you right;

Till I breathe my last ^aI will not remove my integrity from me.

⁶“I ^ahold fast my righteousness and will not let it go.

My heart does not reproach any of my days.

⁷“May my enemy be as the wicked

And the one who rises against me as the unjust.

⁸“For what is ^athe hope of the godless ¹when he is cut off,

When God requires ^bhis ²soul?

⁹“Will God ^ahear his cry

When ^bdistress comes upon him?

¹⁰“Will he take ^adelight in the Almighty?

Will he call on God at all times?

¹¹“I will instruct you in the ¹power of God;

What is with the Almighty I will not conceal.

¹²“Behold, all of you have seen it;

Why then do you speak with utter vanity?

¹³“This is ^athe portion of a wicked man from God,

And the inheritance which the ^bruthless receive from the Almighty.

¹⁴“Though his sons are many, ¹they are destined ^afor the sword;

And his ^boffspring will not be satisfied with bread.

¹⁵“His survivors will be buried because of the plague,

And ¹their ^awidows will not be able to weep.

¹⁶“Though he piles up silver like dust

And prepares garments as plentiful as the clay,

¹⁷He may prepare it, ^abut the righteous will wear it,

And the innocent will divide the silver.

¹⁸“He has built his ^ahouse like the ¹moth,

Or as a hut which the watchman has made.

¹⁹“He lies down rich, but never ¹again;

He opens his eyes, and ^ait is no longer.

²⁰“^aTerrors overtake him like many waters;

A tempest steals him away ^bin the night.

²¹“The east ^awind carries him away, and he goes,

And it whirls him ^baway from his place.

²²“For it will hurl at him ^awithout sparing;

He will surely try to ^bflee from its ¹power.

²³“Men will clap their hands at him

And will ^ahiss him from his place.