Job 27

¹ And Job further continued and said in his ^[1]parable,

² As God liveth, who hath thus judged me;

and the Almighty, who hath embittered my soul;

³ verily, while my breath is yet in me,

and the breath of God which remaineth to me is in my nostrils,

⁴ my lips shall not speak evil words,

neither shall my soul meditate unrighteous thoughts.

⁵ Far be it from me that I should justify you till I die;

for I will not let go mine innocence,

⁶ but keeping fast to my righteousness I will by no means let it go:

for I am not conscious to myself of having done anything ^[2]amiss.

⁷ Nay rather, but let mine enemies be as the overthrow of the ungodly,

and they that rise up against me, as the destruction of transgressors.

⁸ For what is the hope of the ungodly, that he holdeth to it?

will he indeed trust in the Lord and be saved?

⁹ Will God hear his prayer?

or, when distress hath come upon him,

¹⁰ hath he any confidence before him?

or will God hear him as he calleth upon him?

¹¹ Yet now I will tell you what is in the hand of the Lord:

I will not lie concerning the things which are with the Almighty.

¹² Behold, ye all know that ye are adding vanity to vanity.

¹³ This is the portion of an ungodly man from the Lord,

and the possession of oppressors shall come upon them from the Almighty.

¹⁴ And if their children be many, they shall be for slaughter:

and if they grow up, they shall beg.

¹⁵ And they that survive of him shall utterly perish,

and no one shall pity their widows.

¹⁶ Even if he should gather silver as earth,

and prepare gold as clay;

¹⁷ all these things shall the righteous gain,

and the truehearted shall possess his wealth.

¹⁸ And his house is gone like moths, and like a spider’s web.

¹⁹ The rich man shall lie down, and shall not continue:

he hath opened his eyes, and he is not.

²⁰ Pains have come upon him as water,

and darkness hath carried him away by night.

²¹ And a burning wind shall catch him, and he shall depart,

and it shall utterly drive him out of his place.

²² And God shall cast trouble upon him, and not spare:

he would fain flee out of his hand.

^{23 [3]}He shall clap his hands at him,

and shall hiss him out of his place.

Notes

1. 27:1 parable: Gr. preface ↩
2. 27:6 amiss: compare Luke 23:41 ↩
3. 27:23 He shall clap his hands at him: Valpy He shall cause men to clap their hands against them ↩