Job 27

Job Maintains His Integrity

27Moreover Job continued his discourse, and said:

²“As God lives, ^awho has taken away my justice,

And the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter,

³As long as my breath is in me,

And the breath of God in my nostrils,

⁴My lips will not speak wickedness,

Nor my tongue utter deceit.

⁵Far be it from me

That I should say you are right;

Till I die ^bI will not put away my integrity from me.

⁶My righteousness I ^chold fast, and will not let it go;

^dMy heart shall not ¹reproach me as long as I live.

⁷“May my enemy be like the wicked,

And he who rises up against me like the unrighteous.

^8eFor what is the hope of the hypocrite,

Though he may gain much,

If God takes away his life?

^9fWill God hear his cry

When trouble comes upon him?

^10gWill he delight himself in the Almighty?

Will he always call on God?

¹¹“I will teach you ²about the hand of God;

What is with the Almighty I will not conceal.

¹²Surely all of you have seen it;

Why then do you behave with complete nonsense?

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

And the heritage of oppressors, received from the Almighty:

¹⁴ⁱIf his children are multiplied, it is for the sword;

And his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread.

¹⁵Those who survive him shall be buried in death,

And ^jtheir ³widows shall not weep,

¹⁶Though he heaps up silver like dust,

And piles up clothing like clay—

¹⁷He may pile it up, but ^kthe just will wear it,

And the innocent will divide the silver.

¹⁸He builds his house like a ⁴moth,

^lLike a ⁵booth which a watchman makes.

¹⁹The rich man will lie down,

⁶But not be gathered up;

He opens his eyes,

And he is ^mno more.

²⁰ⁿTerrors overtake him like a flood;

A tempest steals him away in the night.

²¹The east wind carries him away, and he is gone;

It sweeps him out of his place.

²²It hurls against him and does not ^ospare;

He flees desperately from its ⁷power.

²³Men shall clap their hands at him,

And shall hiss him out of his place.