Job 27

NEW JERUSALEM	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
1 And Job continued his solemn discourse. He said:
2 I swear by the living God who denies me justice, by Shaddai who has fil ed me with bitterness,	2 As God lives, who withholds my deserts, the Almighty, who has made bitter my soul,
3 that as long as a shred of life is left in me, and the breath of God breathes in my nostrils,	3 So long as I still have life in me and the breath of God is in my nostrils,
4 my lips wil never speak evil nor my tongue utter any lie.	4 My lips shall not speak falsehood, nor my tongue utter deceit!
5 Far from admitting you to be in the right, I shal maintain my integrity to my dying day.	5 Far be it from me to account you right; till I die I will not renounce my innocence.
6 I take my stand on my uprightness, I shal not stir: in my heart I need not be ashamed of my days.	6 My justice I maintain and I will not relinquish it; my heart does not reproach me for any of my days.
7 Let my enemy meet the fate of the wicked, my adversary, the lot of the evil-doer!	7 Let my enemy be as the wicked and my adversary as the unjust!
8 For what hope does the godless have when he prays and raises his soul to God?	8 For what can the impious man expect when he is cut off, when God requires his life?
9 Is God likely to hear his cries when disaster descends on him?	9 Will God then attend to his cry when calamity comes upon him?
10 Did he make Shaddai al his delight, calling on him at every turn?	10 Will he then delight in the Almighty and call upon him constantly?
11 But I am showing you the way that God works, making no secret of Shaddai's designs.	11 I will teach you the manner of God's dealings, and the way of the Almighty I will not conceal.
12 And if you had al understood them for yourselves, you would not have wasted your breath in emptywords.	12 Behold, you yourselves have all seen it; why then do you spend yourselves in idle words!
13 This is the fate that God assigns to the wicked, the inheritance that the violent receive from Shaddai.	13 This is the portion of a wicked man from God, the inheritance an oppressor receives from the Almighty:
14 Though he have many children, it is but for the sword; his descendants will never have enough to eat.	14 Though his children be many, the sword is their destiny. His offspring shall not be filled with bread.
15 Plague will bury those he leaves behind him, and their widows wil have no chance to mourn them.	15 His survivors, when they die, shall have no burial, and their widows shall not be mourned.
16 Though he amass silver like dust and gather fine clothes like clay,	16 Though he heap up silver like dust and store away mounds of clothing,
17 let him gather!-some good man wil wear them, while his silver is shared among the upright.	17 What he has stored the just man shall wear, and the innocent shall divide the silver.
18 All he has built himself is a spider's web, made himself a watchman's shack.	18 He builds his house as of cobwebs, or like a booth put up by the vine-keeper.
19 He goes to bed rich, but never again: he wakes to find it has al gone. As drought and heat makesnow disappear, so does Sheol anyone who has sinned.	19 He lies down a rich man, one last time; he opens his eyes and nothing remains to him.
20 Terror assails him in broad daylight, and at night a whirlwind sweeps him off. The womb that shapedhim forgets him and his name is recal ed no longer. Thus wickedness is blasted as a tree is struck.	20 Terrors rush upon him by day; at night the tempest carries him off.
21 An east wind picks him up and drags him away, snatching him up from his homestead. He used to il -treat the childless woman and show no kindness to the widow.	21 The storm wind seizes him and he disappears; it sweeps him out of his place.
22 Pitilessly he is turned into a target, and forced to flee from the hands that menace him. But he wholays mighty hold on tyrants rises up to take away a life that seemed secure.
23 His downfall is greeted with applause, he is hissed wherever he goes. He is no more than a strawfloating on the water, his estate is accursed throughout the land, nobody goes near his vineyard. He let him buildhis hopes on false security, but kept his eyes on every step he took.
24 He had his time of glory, now he vanishes, wilting like the saltwort once it is picked, and withering likean ear of corn.