A Protest of Innocence
27:1 And Job continued raising
his discourse,1
and said,
27:2 As surely as God lives,2
who has denied me justice,3
the Almighty, who has made my life bitter.4
27:3 For while5
my spirit6
is yet in me,
and the breath from God is in my nostrils,
27:4 my7
lips will not speak wickedness,
and my tongue will utter8
no deceit.
27:5 I will never9
declare that you are in the right,
until I expire, I will not set aside my integrity.
27:6 I will maintain my righteousness
and never let it go;
my heart will not reproach me
me as long as I live.10
The Condition of the Wicked
27:7 May my enemy be like the wicked,11
my adversary12
like the unjust.13
27:8 For what hope has the godless when he is cut
off,14
when God takes away his life?15
27:9 Does God listen to his cry
when distress comes upon him?
27:10 Will he find delight in the Almighty?
will he call upon God at all times?
27:11 I will teach you16
about the power17
of God;
That which is on Shadday’s mind,18
I will not conceal.
27:12 If you yourselves have all seen this,
Why in the world19
do you continue this meaningless talk?20
27:13 This is the portion of the wicked man
allotted by God,21
the inheritance that evil-doers receive
from the Almighty.
27:14 If his children increase—it is for the
sword!22
his offspring never have enough to eat.23
27:15 Those who survive him are buried by the plague,24
and their25
widows do not weep for them.
27:16 If he heaps up silver like dust
and lays up clothes like piles of clay,
27:17 what he lays up26
a righteous man will wear,
and an innocent man inherits his silver.
27:18 The house he builds is like a moth’s
cocoon,27
like a hut28
that a keeper has made.
27:19 He lies down wealthy, but will do so no more.29
when he opens his eyes, all is gone.30
27:20 Terrors overtake him like a flood;31
at night a whirlwind carries him away.
27:21 The east wind carries him off, and he is gone;
it sweeps him out of his place.
27:22 It hurls itself against him without mercy32
as he flees headlong from its power.
27:23 It claps33
its hands at him in derision
and hisses him away from his place.