Job 26-27

Living Bible

26 Job’s reply:

² “What wonderful helpers you all are! And how you have encouraged me in my great need! ³ How you have enlightened my stupidity! What wise things you have said! ⁴ How did you ever think of all these brilliant comments?

^5-6 “The dead stand naked, trembling before God in the place where they go. ⁷ God stretches out heaven over empty space and hangs the earth upon nothing. ⁸ He wraps the rain in his thick clouds, and the clouds are not split by the weight. ⁹ He shrouds his throne with his clouds. ¹⁰ He sets a boundary for the ocean, yes, and a boundary for the day and for the night. ¹¹ The pillars of heaven tremble at his rebuke. ¹² And by his power the sea grows calm; he is skilled at crushing its pride! ¹³ The heavens are made beautiful by his Spirit;^[a] he pierces the swiftly gliding serpent.

¹⁴ “These are some of the minor things he does, merely a whisper of his power. Who then can withstand his thunder?”

27 Job’s final defense:

² “I vow by the living God, who has taken away my rights, even the Almighty God who has embittered my soul, ³ that as long as I live, while I have breath from God, ⁴ my lips shall speak no evil, my tongue shall speak no lies. ⁵ I will never, never agree that you are right; until I die I will vow my innocence. ⁶ I am not a sinner—I repeat it again and again. My conscience is clear for as long as I live. ⁷ Those who declare otherwise are my wicked enemies. They are evil men.

⁸ “But what hope has the godless when God cuts him off and takes away his life? ⁹ Will God listen to his cry when trouble comes upon him? ¹⁰ For he does not delight himself in the Almighty or pay any attention to God except in times of crisis.

¹¹ “I will teach you about God— ¹² but really, I don’t need to, for you yourselves know as much about him as I do; yet you are saying all these useless things to me.

¹³ “This is the fate awaiting the wicked from the hand of the Almighty: ¹⁴ If he has a multitude of children, it is so that they will die in war or starve to death. ¹⁵ Those who survive shall be brought down to the grave by disease and plague, with no one to mourn them, not even their wives.

¹⁶ “The evil man may accumulate money like dust, with closets jammed full of clothing— ¹⁷ yes, he may order them made by his tailor, but the innocent shall wear that clothing and shall divide his silver among them. ¹⁸ Every house built by the wicked is as fragile as a spider web, as full of cracks as a leafy booth!

¹⁹ “He goes to bed rich but wakes up to find that all his wealth is gone. ²⁰ Terror overwhelms him, and he is blown away in the storms of the night. ²¹ The east wind carries him away, and he is gone. It sweeps him into eternity. ²² For God shall hurl at him unsparingly. He longs to flee from God. ²³ Everyone will cheer at his death and boo him into eternity.