1 Job continued his discourse, saying:
2 As God lives, who has deprived me of justice, f
and the Almighty who has made me bitter, g
3 as long as my breath is still in me
and the breath from God remains in my nostrils, h
4 my lips will not speak unjustly,
and my tongue will not utter deceit.
5 I will never affirm that you are right.
I will maintain my integrity ,i until I die.
6 I will cling to my righteousness and never let it go.
My conscience j will not accuse me as long as I live!
7 May my enemy be like the wicked
and my opponent like the unjust.
8 For what hope does the godless person k have when he is cut off,
when God takes away his life? l
9 Will God hear his cry
when distress comes on him?
10 Will he delight m in the Almighty?
Will he call on God at all times?
11 I will teach you about God’s power.
I will not conceal what the Almighty has planned.
12 All of you have seen this for yourselves,
why do you keep up this empty talk? n
13 This is a wicked man’s lot o from God,
the inheritance the ruthless receive from the Almighty.
14 Even if his children increase, they are destined for the sword;
his descendants will never have enough food.
15 Those who survive him will be buried by the plague,
yet their widows will not weep for them. p
16 Though he piles up silver like dust
and heaps up fine clothing like clay—
17 he may heap it up, but the righteous will wear it,
and the innocent will divide up his silver. q
18 The house he built is like a moth’s cocoon
or a shelter set up by a watchman. r
19 He lies down wealthy, but will do so no more;
when he opens his eyes, it is gone.
20 Terrors overtake him like a flood; s
a storm t wind sweeps him away at night.
21 An east wind picks him up, and he is gone;
it carries him away from his place.
22 It blasts at him without mercy,
while he flees desperately from its force.
23 It claps u its hands at him
and scoffs at him from its place.
27:1. The introductory statement in 27:1 is unusual in speaking of Job continuing his discourse. This suggests that Job has waited for Zophar to speak, but when the friend remains silent, then Job resumes talking. The Hebrew term used here for Job’s “discourse,” mashal, suggests that what follows is a formal pronouncement before a court. Job thus indicates his intention to hand his case over for God to adjudicate. After an interlude in chapter 28, in 29:1 Job continues his mashal, which is not completed until 31:40, but the verdict will have to wait until 42:7, when at last God will publicly exonerate Job.
27:2–6. By using the name of God (27:2), Job expresses the most solemn and binding oath possible. If Job were swearing falsely, this oath in God’s name (27:4) would call down upon him divine calamity (cf. 1 Sm 28:10). Job reinforces the positive oath with a negative oath in 27:5 (cf. 1 Sm 12:23; 26:11). Job thus appeals to God to declare him in the right against all who have accused him. Job will not mouth inauthentic words of contrition just to get God’s blessing back into his life or abandon his conviction that he is innocent. He is certain that he has not sinned against God (27:6).
27:7–12. Just as Job is convinced of his own innocence, he is also certain that those who have accused him are wrong. He utters a powerful curse against them (27:7). Job wants God to treat them as wicked men deserving divine judgment. Even though Job has pointed out many examples from life in which the retribution principle does not hold (Jb 24), he does not abandon his belief that God rules over the world in justice (27:8–10). For the friends, everything is black or white, but Job realizes that some situations, such as his own, are not so clear-cut and predictable. Instead of totally discarding retribution, Job qualifies it. Job affirms that God does inevitably punish wickedness (cf. Pss 1:4–6; 73:3, 16–20; Pr 24:20), but also that in the short run there might be apparent anomalies.
27:13–23. The final section of the chapter (27:13–23) could well be a quotation of the “empty talk” to which Job refers in verse 12. In citing what his friends say about the fate of the wicked, Job declares what he thinks Zophar would say if he were to speak again. These verses sound a lot like what Zophar said previously (Jb 20), and Zophar’s concluding words in 20:29 are repeated almost exactly by Job in 27:13. Job agrees with the friends on the legitimacy of retribution, and that is why Job is so confused and upset by the adversity he has experienced. Job takes the long view of retribution, that God will eventually reward the righteous and punish the wicked.