27:1  JOB AGAIN took up his discourse and said,

27:2  As God lives, Who has taken away my right {and} denied me justice, and the Almighty, Who has vexed {and} embittered my life,

27:3  As long as my life is still whole within me, and the breath of God is [yet] in my nostrils,

27:4  My lips shall not speak untruth, nor shall my tongue utter deceit.

27:5  God forbid that I should justify you--saying you are right [in your accusations against me]; till I die, I will not put away my integrity from me.

27:6  My uprightness {and} my right standing with God I hold fast and will not let them go; my heart does not reproach me for any of my days {and} it shall not reproach me as long as I live.

27:7  Let my enemy be as the wicked, and let him who rises up against me be as the unrighteous.

27:8  For what is the hope of the godless {and} polluted, even though he has gained [in this world], when God cuts him off {and} takes away his life?

27:9  Will God hear his cry when trouble comes upon him?

27:10  Will he take delight in the Almighty? Will he call upon God at all times?

27:11  I will teach you regarding the hand {and} handiwork of God; that which is with the Almighty [God's actual treatment of the wicked man] will I not conceal.

27:12  Behold, all of you have seen it yourselves; why then have you become altogether vain [cherishing foolish notions]?

27:13  This [which I am about to tell] is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the heritage which oppressors shall receive from the Almighty:

27:14  If his children are multiplied, it is for the sword; and his offspring will not have sufficient bread.

27:15  Those who survive him, [the pestilence] will bury, and [their] widows will make no lamentation.

27:16  Though he heaps up silver like dust and piles up clothing like clay,

27:17  He may prepare it, but the just will wear it, and the innocent will divide the silver.

27:18  He builds his house like a moth {or} a spider, like a booth which a watchman makes [to last for a season].

27:19  [The wicked] will lie down rich, but does it not again; he opens his eyes, and [his wealth] is gone.

27:20  Terrors overtake him like a [suddenly loosened] flood; a windstorm steals him away in the night.

27:21  The east wind lifts him up, and he is gone; it sweeps him out of his place.

27:22  For [God and the storm] hurl at him without pity {and} unsparingly [their thunderbolts of wrath]; he flees in haste before His power.

27:23  [God causes] men to clap their hands at him [in malignant joy] and hiss him out of his place.