Job 27

Chapter 27

Job’s Final Speech

1 Job continued speaking:
2 “I vow by the living God, who has taken away my rights,
by the Almighty who has embittered my soul—3 As long as I live,
while I have breath from God,4 my lips will speak no evil,
and my tongue will speak no lies.5 I will never concede that you are right;
I will defend my integrity until I die.6 I will maintain my innocence without wavering.
My conscience is clear for as long as I live.7 “May my enemy be punished like the wicked,
my adversary like those who do evil.8 For what hope do the godless have when God cuts them off
and takes away their life?9 Will God listen to their cry
when trouble comes upon them?10 Can they take delight in the Almighty?
Can they call to God at any time?11 I will teach you about God’s power.
I will not conceal anything concerning the Almighty.12 But you have seen all this,
yet you say all these useless things to me.13 “This is what the wicked will receive from God;
this is their inheritance from the Almighty.14 They may have many children,
but the children will die in war or starve to death.15 Those who survive will die of a plague,
and not even their widows will mourn them.16 “Evil people may have piles of money
and may store away mounds of clothing.17 But the righteous will wear that clothing,
and the innocent will divide that money.18 The wicked build houses as fragile as a spider’s web,t
as flimsy as a shelter made of branches.19 The wicked go to bed rich
but wake to find that all their wealth is gone.20 Terror overwhelms them like a flood,
and they are blown away in the storms of the night.21 The east wind carries them away, and they are gone.
It sweeps them away.22 It whirls down on them without mercy.
They struggle to flee from its power.23 But everyone jeers at them
and mocks them.

JOB 27

Job Continues

I Am Desperate

1 Job said:

2 I am desperate because
God All-Powerful refuses
to do what is right.
As surely as God lives,

3 and while he gives me breath,

4 I will tell only the truth.

5 Until the day I die,
I will refuse to do wrong
by saying you are right,

6 because each day my conscience
agrees that I am innocent.

7 I pray that my enemies
will suffer no less
than the wicked.

8 Such people are hopeless,
and God All-Powerful
will cut them down,

9 without listening
when they beg for mercy.

10 And that is what God should do,
because they don't like him
or ever pray.

11 Now I will explain in detail
what God All-Powerful does.

12 All of you have seen these things
for yourselves.
So you have no excuse.

How God Treats the Wicked

13 Here is how God All-Powerful
treats those who are wicked
and brutal.

14 They may have many children,
but most of them will go hungry
or suffer a violent death.

15 Others will die of disease,
and their widows
won't be able to weep.

16 The wicked may collect riches
and clothes in abundance
as easily as clay.

17 But God's people will wear
clothes taken from them
and divide up their riches.

18 No homes built by the wicked
will outlast a cocoon
or a shack.

19 Those sinners may go to bed rich,
but they will wake up poor.t

20 Terror will strike at night
like a flood or a storm.

21 Then a scorching wind
will sweep them away

22 without showing mercy,
as they try to escape.

23 At last, the wind will celebrate
because they are gone.