Job 25-27

Common English Bible

² Supreme power and awe belong to God;
    he establishes peace on his heights.
³ Can his troops be counted?
    On whom does his light not rise?
⁴ How can a person be innocent before God;
    one born of a woman be pure?
⁵ If even the moon is not bright
        and the stars not pure in his eyes,
⁶     how much less a human, a worm,
        a person’s child, a grub.

² How well you have helped the weak,
        saved those with frail arms,
³     advised one lacking wisdom,
        informed many with insight!
⁴ With whom have you spoken;^[a]
    whose breath was expelled from you?

⁵ The dead writhe,
    the inhabitants beneath the waters as well.
⁶ The grave^[b] is naked before God;
    the underworld^[c] lacks covering.
⁷ He stretched the North^[d] over chaos,
    hung earth over nothing;
⁸     wrapped up water in his clouds,
        yet they didn’t burst out below;
⁹     hid the face of the full moon,^[e]
        spreading his cloud over it;
¹⁰     traced a circle on the water’s surface,
        at the limit of light and darkness.
¹¹ Heaven’s pillars shook,
    terrified by his blast.
¹² By his power he stilled the Sea;
    split Rahab with his cleverness.
¹³ Due to his wind, heaven became clear;
    his hand split the fleeing serpent.
¹⁴ Look, these are only the outer fringe of his ways;
    we hear only a whispered word about him.
    Who can understand his thunderous power?

² As God lives, who rejected my legal claim,
        the Almighty, who made me bitter,
³     as long as breath is in me
        and God’s breath is in my nostrils—
⁴     my lips will utter no wickedness;
        my tongue will mumble no deceit.
⁵ I will not agree that you are right.
    Until my dying day, I won’t give up my integrity.
⁶ I will insist on my innocence, never surrendering it;
    my conscience will never blame me for what I have done.^[f]

⁷ Let my enemy be like the wicked,
    my opposition like the vicious.
⁸ For what hope has the godless when God cuts them off,
    when he takes them away.
⁹ Will God hear their cries
        when distress comes to them;
¹⁰     will they delight in the Almighty,
        call God at any time?

¹¹ I will teach you God’s power,
    not hide what pertains to the Almighty.
¹² Look, those of you who recognize this—
    why then this empty talk?
¹³ This is the wicked’s portion with God,
    the inheritance that the ruthless receive from the Almighty.
¹⁴ If their children increase, they belong to the sword;
    their offspring won’t have enough bread.
¹⁵ Their survivors will be buried with the dead;
    their widows won’t weep.
¹⁶ If they store up silver like dust,
    amass clothing like clay,
¹⁷     they may amass, but the righteous will wear it;
            the innocent will divide the silver.
¹⁸ They built their houses like nests,
    like a hut made by a watchman.
¹⁹ They lie down rich, but no longer;
    open their eyes, but it’s missing.
²⁰ Terrors overtake them like waters;
        a tempest snatches them by night;
²¹     an east wind lifts them, and they are gone,
        removes them from their places,
²²     throws itself on them without mercy;
        they flee desperately from its force.
²³ It claps its hands over them,
    hisses at them from their place.