Job 27
Expanded Bible
27 And Job continued ·speaking [L his discourse]:
2 “·As surely as God lives [By the living God], who has ·taken away [turned aside] my rights,
·the Almighty [Shaddai], who has made me ·unhappy [bitter],
3 as long as ·I am alive [my breath is in me]
and God’s ·breath of life [L spirit; breath; Gen. 2:7; Eccl. 12:7] is in my nose,
4 my lips will not speak ·evil [or falsehood],
and my tongue will not ·tell [L mutter] ·a lie [deceit].
5 ·I will never [Far be it from me to] ·agree [concede] you are right;
until I ·die [expire], I will never ·stop saying I am innocent [L turn aside my innocence].
6 I will ·insist that I am right [L embrace my righteousness]; I will not ·back down [weaken].
·My conscience will never bother me [L My heart will not reproach my days].
7 “Let my enemies be like evil people,
·my foes [those who rise up against me] like ·those who are wrong [the guilty].
8 What hope do the wicked have when they ·die [L are cut off],
when God ·takes their life away [requires their life]?
9 God will not listen to their cries
when trouble comes to them.
10 ·They will not [Will they…?] find joy in ·the Almighty [Shaddai],
·even though [or will…?] they call out to God all the time.
11 “I will ·teach [instruct] you about the ·power [L hand] of God
and will not ·hide [conceal] ·the ways of [L that which is with] ·the Almighty [Shaddai].
12 You have all seen this yourselves.
·So why are we having all this talk that means nothing [L Why have you become so meaningless/vaporous/vain]?
13 “Here is ·what God has planned for evil people [L the lot of evil people with God],
and ·that the Almighty will give to cruel people [L the inheritance that the cruel receive from the Almighty/Shaddai]:
14 They may have many children, but the sword will kill them.
Their ·children [L offspring] will never have enough ·to eat [L bread; food].
15 Then those who are left will die of disease and be buried,
and the widows will not even cry for them.
16 ·The wicked [L They] may heap up silver like ·piles of dirt [dust]
and ·have so many clothes they are like piles of clay [pile up clothes like mounds of earth/clay].
17 But ·good people [the righteous] will wear ·what evil people have gathered [L them],
and the innocent will ·divide up [distribute among themselves] their silver.
18 ·The houses the wicked build are [L They will build their houses] like a ·spider’s web [or moth’s cocoon],
like a ·hut [booth; shelter] that a guard builds.
19 ·The wicked are rich when they go to bed [L They may lie down wealthy],
but ·they are rich for the last time [L not again];
when they open their eyes, everything is gone.
20 ·Fears [Terrors] ·come over [overtake] them like ·a flood [waters],
and a storm snatches them away in the night.
21 The east wind will ·carry them away [L lift them up], and then they are gone,
because it sweeps them out of their place.
22 ·The wind [or God; L He; It] will hit them without mercy
as they ·try to run away [flee] from ·its power [or his power/hand].
23 It will be as if ·the wind [or God; L he; it] is clapping ·its [or his] hands;
·it [or he] will ·whistle [or hiss] at them as they run from their place [C clapping and hissing are gestures of contempt].
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
The Expanded Bible, Copyright © 2011 Thomas Nelson Inc. All rights reserved.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.