Job Continues: I Will Maintain My Integrity

1And Job again took up his discourse, and said:

2“As God lives, who has taken away my right,

and the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter,

3as long as my breath is in me,

and the spirit of God is in my nostrils,

4my lips will not speak falsehood,

and my tongue will not utter deceit.

5Far be it from me to say that you are right;

till I die I will not put away my integrity from me.

6I 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 let him who rises up against me be as the unrighteous.

8For what is the hope of the godless when God cuts him off,

when God takes away his life?

9Will God hear his cry

when distress comes upon him?

10Will he take delight in the Almighty?

Will he call upon God at all times?

11I will teach you concerning the hand of God;

what is with the Almighty I will not conceal.

12Behold, all of you have seen it yourselves;

why then have you become altogether vain?

13“This is the portion of a wicked man with God,

and the heritage that oppressors receive from the Almighty:

14If his children are multiplied, it is for the sword,

and his descendants have not enough bread.

15Those who survive him the pestilence buries,

and his widows do not weep.

16Though he heap up silver like dust,

and pile up clothing like clay,

17he may pile it up, but the righteous will wear it,

and the innocent will divide the silver.

18He builds his house like a moth's,

like a booth that a watchman makes.

19He goes to bed rich, but will do so no more;

he opens his eyes, and his wealth is gone.

20Terrors overtake him like a flood;

in the night a whirlwind carries him off.

21The east wind lifts him up and he is gone;

it sweeps him out of his place.

22It hurls at him without pity;

he flees from its power in headlong flight.

23It claps its hands at him

and hisses at him from its place.