Add parallel Print Page Options

Job continues to speak

27 Job continued to speak. This is what he said:

‘Almighty God has not been fair to me.
    He has caused my life to be very sad.
As surely as he lives, I promise this:
As long as God's Spirit gives me life,
    I will never speak any lies.
    I will always be honest.
I will never agree that you, my three friends, are right.
Until the day of my death,
    I will continue to say what I know is right.
I will never agree that I am guilty.
During all of my life,
    my thoughts do not say that I am doing anything wrong.

I pray that God will punish my enemies
    as he punishes all wicked people.
They do bad things to me,
    so they deserve punishment.
When God chooses to remove wicked people,
    they cannot hope for any good thing.
God will cause them to die.
When they are in trouble and they pray for help,
    God will not listen to them.
10 People like that are not happy that Almighty God is their friend.
    They do not like to pray to him all the time.
11 I will teach you about the power of Almighty God.
    I will explain to you what he is thinking.
12 You yourselves have all seen what God has done.
    So you should stop saying all these useless things!
13 I will tell you what Almighty God does to wicked people.
    He punishes cruel people as they deserve.
14 Wicked people may have many children,
    but they will die in war.
Their children will never have enough food to eat.
15 Illness will kill any children who continue to live.
    Their widows will not weep when they are dead.
16 Wicked people may have lots of money.
    They may have silver like heaps of sand.
    They may have more clothes than they could ever wear.
17 But one day righteous people will wear those clothes.
    Honest people will share the silver among themselves.
18 The houses that wicked people build are not strong.
    They are as weak as a spider's web,[a]
    or a shepherd's hut,
19 Their riches quickly disappear.
    They are rich when they go to sleep,
    but poor when they wake up.
20 Troubles come to them like a flood of water,
    and they are very afraid.
A storm comes in the night to carry them away.
21 The east wind picks them up and takes then far away.[b]
    It removes them from their homes.
22 It is a strong wind that hits wicked people
    and it never stops.
It continues to beat them as they try to escape.
23 The cruel wind laughs at them
    as they run away in fear.’

Footnotes

  1. 27:18 A spider is small, like an insect. It uses very thin strings (threads) to make a web. It catches insects in the web for its food.
  2. 27:21 The wind in verses 21 to 23 is probably a picture of the troubles that come to wicked people.

Job’s Final Word to His Friends

27 And Job continued his discourse:(A)

“As surely as God lives, who has denied me justice,(B)
    the Almighty,(C) who has made my life bitter,(D)
as long as I have life within me,
    the breath of God(E) in my nostrils,
my lips will not say anything wicked,
    and my tongue will not utter lies.(F)
I will never admit you are in the right;
    till I die, I will not deny my integrity.(G)
I will maintain my innocence(H) and never let go of it;
    my conscience(I) will not reproach me as long as I live.(J)

“May my enemy be like the wicked,(K)
    my adversary(L) like the unjust!
For what hope have the godless(M) when they are cut off,
    when God takes away their life?(N)
Does God listen to their cry
    when distress comes upon them?(O)
10 Will they find delight in the Almighty?(P)
    Will they call on God at all times?

11 “I will teach you about the power of God;
    the ways(Q) of the Almighty I will not conceal.(R)
12 You have all seen this yourselves.
    Why then this meaningless talk?

13 “Here is the fate God allots to the wicked,
    the heritage a ruthless man receives from the Almighty:(S)
14 However many his children,(T) their fate is the sword;(U)
    his offspring will never have enough to eat.(V)
15 The plague will bury those who survive him,
    and their widows will not weep for them.(W)
16 Though he heaps up silver like dust(X)
    and clothes like piles of clay,(Y)
17 what he lays up(Z) the righteous will wear,(AA)
    and the innocent will divide his silver.(AB)
18 The house(AC) he builds is like a moth’s cocoon,(AD)
    like a hut(AE) made by a watchman.
19 He lies down wealthy, but will do so no more;(AF)
    when he opens his eyes, all is gone.(AG)
20 Terrors(AH) overtake him like a flood;(AI)
    a tempest snatches him away in the night.(AJ)
21 The east wind(AK) carries him off, and he is gone;(AL)
    it sweeps him out of his place.(AM)
22 It hurls itself against him without mercy(AN)
    as he flees headlong(AO) from its power.(AP)
23 It claps its hands(AQ) in derision
    and hisses him out of his place.”(AR)