Job 27

1Job took up his discourse again and said: 2As God lives, who has denied me justice, and the Almighty, who has made my life bitter, 3as long as I still have breath in me and the breath of God is in my nostrils, 4my lips will not speak what is wrong, and my tongue will not utter lies. 5Far be it from me to say that you are right; until I die I will not give up my integrity. 6I hold on to my righteousness and will not let it go; my conscience does not blame me for any day of my life. 7Let my enemy be like the wicked, and my opponent like the unrighteous. 8For what hope does the godless have when God cuts him off, when he takes away his life? 9Will God hear his cry when trouble comes upon him? 10Will he find delight in the Almighty? Will he call on God at all times? 11I will teach you about the power of God; what the Almighty has in mind I will not hide. 12Look, all of you have seen it for yourselves; why then do you talk such empty nonsense? 13This is the portion a wicked person has from God, the inheritance the ruthless receive from the Almighty: 14If his children are many, they are destined for the sword, and his descendants will never have enough to eat. 15Those who survive him will be buried by the plague, and his widows will not mourn. 16Though he piles up silver like dust and stores up clothes like heaps of clay, 17he may store them up, but the righteous will wear them, and the innocent will divide up the silver. 18The house he builds is like a moth’s cocoon, like a shelter put up by a watchman. 19He lies down rich, but he will not be gathered to his ancestors; he opens his eyes, and he is gone. 20Terrors overtake him like a flood; in the night a storm carries him off. 21The east wind picks him up, and he is gone; it sweeps him away from his place. 22It hurls itself at him without mercy, as he flees headlong from its power. 23It claps its hands at him and hisses at him from his place.