Job 27

New Century Version

² “As surely as God lives, who has taken away my rights,
    the Almighty, who has made me unhappy,
³ as long as I am alive
    and God’s breath of life is in my nose,
⁴ my lips will not speak evil,
    and my tongue will not tell a lie.
⁵ I will never agree you are right;
    until I die, I will never stop saying I am innocent.
⁶ I will insist that I am right; I will not back down.
    My conscience will never bother me.

⁷ “Let my enemies be like evil people,
    my foes like those who are wrong.
⁸ What hope do the wicked have when they die,
    when God takes their life away?
⁹ God will not listen to their cries
    when trouble comes to them.
¹⁰ They will not find joy in the Almighty,
    even though they call out to God all the time.

¹¹ “I will teach you about the power of God
    and will not hide the ways of the Almighty.
¹² You have all seen this yourselves.
    So why are we having all this talk that means nothing?

¹³ “Here is what God has planned for evil people,
    and what the Almighty will give to cruel people:
¹⁴ They may have many children, but the sword will kill them.
    Their children who are left will never have enough to eat.
¹⁵ Then they will die of disease and be buried,
    and the widows will not even cry for them.
¹⁶ The wicked may heap up silver like piles of dirt
    and have so many clothes they are like piles of clay.
¹⁷ But good people will wear what evil people have gathered,
    and the innocent will divide up their silver.
¹⁸ The houses the wicked build are like a spider’s web,
    like a hut that a guard builds.
¹⁹ The wicked are rich when they go to bed,
    but they are rich for the last time;
    when they open their eyes, everything is gone.
²⁰ Fears come over them like a flood,
    and a storm snatches them away in the night.
²¹ The east wind will carry them away, and then they are gone,
    because it sweeps them out of their place.
²² The wind will hit them without mercy
    as they try to run away from its power.
²³ It will be as if the wind is clapping its hands;
    it will whistle at them as they run from their place.