Job Affirms His Integrity

1Job also added to this, using figures of speech, and he said:

2As God lives, who has taken away my judgment, and the Almighty, who has led my soul to bitterness,

3as long as my breath remains in me and the breath of God remains in my nostrils,

4my lips will not speak iniquity, nor will my tongue devise lies.

5Far be it from me that I should judge you to be right, for, until I expire, I will not withdraw from my innocence.

6I will not forsake my justification, which I have just begun to grasp, for my heart does not find blame for me in my whole life.

The Wicked Man’s Portion

7Let the impious be as my enemy, and the sinful, as my adversary.

8For what hope is there for the hypocrite, if he greedily plunders and God does not free his soul?

9Will God pay attention to his cry, when anguish overcomes him?

10Or will he take delight in the Almighty and call upon God at all times?

11I will teach you through the hand of God, what the Almighty holds, and I will not conceal it.

12Behold, you know all this, and so why do you speak vain things without a reason?

13This is the portion of the impious man with God, and the inheritance of the violent, which they will receive from the Almighty.

14If his sons should happen to increase, they will be for the sword, and his grandsons will not be satisfied with bread.

15Whatever will remain of him will be buried in the ruins, and his widows will not weep.

16If he will amass silver as if it were dirt and fabricate garments as if they were clay,

17then yes, he will gather, but the just will be clothed with it and the innocent will divide the silver.

18He has built his house like a moth, and he has made a makeshift shelter like a sentry.

19When he falls asleep, the rich man will leave him with nothing; he will open his eyes and find nothing.

20Destitution will surround him like water; a storm will overwhelm him in the night.

21A burning wind will pick him up and carry him away, and, like a whirlwind, it will rush him from his place.

22And it will hurl over him and will not spare him; fleeing from its power, he will go into exile.

23He will clasp his hands over himself, and he will hiss at himself, while considering his situation.