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Job 27

The TorahRooted Bible (TRB), translated directly from the Hebrew and Greek.

Job holds fast his integrity

1 Job again took up his discourse and said:

2 As El lives, who has taken away my right, and Shaddai, who has made my soul bitter, 3 as long as my breath is still in me, and the spirit of Eloah is in my nostrils, 4 my lips shall not speak injustice, and my tongue shall not utter deceit.

5 Far be it from me to declare you in the right; until I die I will not put away my integrity from me. 6 I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go; my heart does not reproach me for any of my days. 7 Let my enemy be as the wicked, and him who rises up against me as the unrighteous. 8 For what is the hope of the godless when he is cut off, when Eloah takes away his life? 9 Will El hear his cry when distress comes upon him? 10 Will he take delight in Shaddai? Will he call upon Eloah at all times?

11 I will teach you about the hand of El; what is with Shaddai I will not conceal. 12 See, all of you have seen it yourselves; why then have you become altogether vain?

The portion of the wicked

13 This is the portion of a wicked man with El, and the heritage that oppressors receive from Shaddai: 14 If his children are multiplied, it is for the sword, and his offspring will not have enough bread. 15 Those who survive him will be buried by the plague, and his widows will not weep. 16 Though he heaps up silver like dust and piles up clothing like clay, 17 he may pile it up, but the righteous will wear it, and the innocent will divide the silver. 18 He builds his house like the moth's, like a booth that a watchman makes. 19 He lies down rich, but he will not be gathered; he opens his eyes, and he is no more. 20 Terrors overtake him like a flood; in the night a storm wind carries him off. 21 The east wind lifts him up, and he is gone; it sweeps him out of his place. 22 It hurls itself at him without pity; he flees headlong from its power. 23 It claps its hands at him and hisses at him from its place.

Notes

  • 27:2 "As El lives" is the form of a solemn oath, and verses 2-6 are one long oath. Job swears by the very El whom he accuses of denying him justice: even in his bitterness he does not let go of Him, but appeals to Him against Himself.
  • 27:5 "Integrity" is tummah, the word Yahweh used of Job (2:3) and his wife threw back at him (2:9), and "I hold fast" in verse 6 is from the same verb, chazak, as "he still holds fast his integrity" there. To "declare you in the right" would mean agreeing with the friends that he is suffering for hidden sin, so to Job it would be a lie (verse 4). What Yahweh said of him in the prologue, Job now swears for himself.
  • 27:13 Verses 13-23 sound much like what the friends have said, and verse 13 echoes Zophar's words in 20:29. Since Bildad's third speech is very short (chapter 25) and Zophar has no third speech, many scholars think the order of the speeches in chapters 24-27 has been disturbed, and some give these verses to Zophar. Others read them as Job's own words: he too believes the wicked will be judged, and turns that teaching back on the friends (verses 7-12). The Hebrew text gives them to Job, introduced afresh at 27:1 ("took up his discourse," not "answered," as again in 29:1), and the TRB keeps that order.
  • 27:19 "He will not be gathered" follows the Hebrew text (ye'asef). It may mean that he will not be gathered to his fathers in an honorable burial, or that his wealth will not be gathered in again. The ancient Greek and Syriac translations read a word with nearly the same letters (yosif), "he will not do so again," that is, he lies down rich for the last time, and many modern versions follow them. The sense is the same either way: his riches vanish overnight.

Job 26 · Job 28

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