Job 27
Evangelical Heritage Version
Round Three: Job’s Third Speech
27 After a pause,[a] Job began to present this discourse:
2 As God lives, he has deprived me of justice.
The Almighty has made my life[b] bitter.
3 Yes, as long as the breath of life is still in me,
as long as the breath from God is still in my nostrils,
4 my lips will not speak wickedness,
and my tongue will not murmur deception.
5 May I be cursed if I ever admit you are right.
Until I die, I will never deny my integrity.
6 I have held tight to my righteousness,
and I will not let it go.
My conscience[c] will not accuse me as long as I live.
7 May my enemy be like the wicked.
May the one who rises up against me be like the unjust.
8 For what hope is there for a godless person when God cuts him off,
when God takes away his life?
9 Will God hear his cry when distress comes upon him?
10 Will he take delight in the Almighty?
Will he call upon God at all times?
11 I will teach you about the hand of God.
I will not hide what the Almighty is doing.
12 Listen, all of you have observed this.
So why do you continue to spew forth such worthless vapor?
13 This is the allotment a wicked man receives from God,
the inheritance that tyrants receive from the Almighty:
14 Although his children are many, they are sent to the sword.
His offspring will not be satisfied with bread.
15 Those who survive will be buried by a plague.
They will be buried, and their widows will not weep.
16 Though the wicked man piles up silver like dust,
and he accumulates clothing like mounds of clay,
17 the righteous will wear what he accumulated,
and the innocent will divide his silver.
18 He has built a house, but it will be like a moth’s cocoon,
like a shack that a watchman has put up.
19 He goes to bed as a rich man,
but his wealth does not remain.
He opens his eyes, and it is all gone.
20 Terrors sweep over him like floodwaters.
At night, a strong wind carries him away.
21 The east wind lifts him up, and off he goes.
It blows him away from his place.
22 It hurls itself at him, and it does not spare him.
He flees from its power as fast as he can.
23 It mockingly claps its hands at him
and drives him from his place with hissing.
Footnotes
- Job 27:1 The words after a pause are not in the Hebrew text, but this is the location for Zophar’s third turn to speak. Zophar, however, sits in silence, and the debate comes to an end. The next speaker to respond to Job will be Elihu son of Barakel, beginning at 32:5.
- Job 27:2 Or soul
- Job 27:6 Literally heart
Job 27
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 27
I Maintain the Rightness of My Cause.[a] 1 Job then continued his discourse:
2 “I swear by the living God who has denied me justice,
and by the Almighty who has filled my soul with bitterness,
3 that as long as I have a shred of life remaining in me
and the breath of God is in my nostrils,
4 never will my lips utter falsehood,
nor will my tongue be guilty of deceit.
5 “Never will I concede that you[b] are right;
until death I will not renounce my innocence.
6 I maintain the rightness of my cause;
my conscience does not reproach me for the life I have led.
7 “Let my enemy meet the fate of the wicked
and my adversary face the doom of the unjust.
8 For what hope does a godless man have when he is cut off,
when God takes away his life?
9 Will God pay heed to his cry
when disaster comes upon him?
10 Will he then take delight in the Almighty
and call upon him at all times?
11 “I will teach you about the power of God;
I will not conceal the designs of the Almighty.
12 Yet all of you have seen it yourselves;
how then can you waste your time with idle words?”
Zophar’s Third Speech[c]
The Law of the Violent
13 “This is the fate that God allots for the wicked man,
the inheritance that the violent receive from the Almighty.
14 Though numerous, his children are destined for the sword,
and his descendants will never have enough to eat.
15 His survivors will perish as a result of pestilence,
and their widows will not mourn for them.
16 “Even though he amasses silver like dust
and piles up clothes like clay,
17 it is the righteous who will wear those clothes
and the innocent who will divide the silver.
18 The house he builds is as flimsy as a cobweb
or like a shack that shelters the watchman.
19 He goes to bed a man of wealth for the final time;
he opens his eyes to find that it is all gone.
20 “By day terror overtakes him,
and at night a whirlwind carries him away.
21 An east wind seizes him and he is gone;
it sweeps him far away from his home.[d]
22 It assails him without pity,
and he flees from its force that menaces him.
23 His downfall is acclaimed with joy,
and he is derided wherever he may be.
Footnotes
- Job 27:1 Job gives a moving and energetic protest of his innocence, calling God as a witness. Going beyond the framework of the protest, the text describes the silence of God with which the man who has turned away from him will one day have to cope.
- Job 27:5 You: this word is plural in the original, indicating that Job is now speaking to his three friends as a group.
- Job 27:13 Despite its location here, this passage does not seem attributable to Job. It fits better with Zophar’s thinking because it picks up an idea he has already developed in his second speech: the punishment of the wicked (see Job 20:29); it fits rather well with Job 24:18-25.
- Job 27:21 See note on Job 15:2.
Job 27
1599 Geneva Bible
27 3 The constancy and perfectness of Job. 13 The reward of the wicked and of the tyrants.
1 Moreover Job proceeded and continued his parable, saying,
2 The living God hath taken away my [a]judgment: for the Almighty hath put my soul in bitterness.
3 Yet so long as my breath is in me, and the Spirit of God in my nostrils,
4 [b]My lips surely shall speak no wickedness, and my tongue shall utter no deceit.
5 God forbid, that I should [c]justify you: until I die, I will never take away mine [d]innocency from myself.
6 I will keep my righteousness, and will not forsake it: mine heart shall not reprove me of my [e]days.
7 Mine enemy shall be as the wicked, and he that riseth against me, as the unrighteous.
8 For what [f]hope hath the hypocrite when he hath heaped up riches, if God take away his soul?
9 Will God hear his cry, when trouble cometh upon him?
10 Will he set his delight on the Almighty? will he call upon God at all times?
11 I will teach you what is in the hand of [g]God, and I will not conceal that which is with the Almighty.
12 Behold, all ye yourselves [h]have seen it: why then do you thus vanish [i]vanity?
13 This is the [j]portion of a wicked man with God, and the heritage of tyrants, which they shall receive of the Almighty.
14 If his children be in great number, the sword shall destroy them, and his posterity shall not be satisfied with bread.
15 His remnant shall be buried in death, and his widows [k]shall not weep.
16 Though he should heap up silver as the dust, and prepare raiment as the clay,
17 He may prepare it, but the just shall put it on, and the innocent shall divide the silver.
18 He buildeth his house as the [l]moth, and as a lodge that the watchman maketh.
19 When the rich man sleepeth, [m]he shall not be gathered to his fathers: they opened their eyes, and he was gone.
20 Terrors shall take him as waters, and a tempest shall carry him away by night.
21 The East wind shall take him away, and he shall depart: and it shall hurl him out of his place.
22 And God shall cast upon him and not spare, though he would fain flee out of his hand.
23 Every man shall clap their hands at him, and hiss at him out of their place.
Footnotes
- Job 27:2 He hath so sore afflicted me, that men cannot judge of mine uprightness: for they judge only by outward signs.
- Job 27:4 However men judge of me, yet will I not speak contrary to that which I have said, and so do wickedly in betraying the truth.
- Job 27:5 Which condemns me as a wicked man, because the hand of God is upon me.
- Job 27:5 I will not confess that God doth thus punish me for my sins.
- Job 27:6 Of my life past.
- Job 27:8 What advantage hath the dissembler to gain never so much, seeing he shall lose his own soul?
- Job 27:11 That is, what God reserveth to himself, and whereof he giveth not the knowledge to all.
- Job 27:12 That is, these secret judgments of God, and yet do not understand them.
- Job 27:12 Why maintain you then this error?
- Job 27:13 Thus will God order the wicked, and punish him even unto his posterity.
- Job 27:15 None shall lament him.
- Job 27:18 Which breedeth in another man’s possession or garment, but is soon shaken out.
- Job 27:19 He meaneth, that the wicked tyrants shall not have a quiet death, nor be buried honorably.
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