27 And Job continued ·speaking [L his discourse]:
2 “·As surely as God lives [By the living God], who has ·taken away [turned aside] my rights,
·the Almighty [Shaddai], who has made me ·unhappy [bitter],
3 as long as ·I am alive [my breath is in me]
and God’s ·breath of life [L spirit; breath; Gen. 2:7; Eccl. 12:7] is in my nose,
4 my lips will not speak ·evil [or falsehood],
and my tongue will not ·tell [L mutter] ·a lie [deceit].
5 ·I will never [Far be it from me to] ·agree [concede] you are right;
until I ·die [expire], I will never ·stop saying I am innocent [L turn aside my innocence].
6 I will ·insist that I am right [L embrace my righteousness]; I will not ·back down [weaken].
·My conscience will never bother me [L My heart will not reproach my days].
7 “Let my enemies be like evil people,
·my foes [those who rise up against me] like ·those who are wrong [the guilty].
8 What hope do the wicked have when they ·die [L are cut off],
when God ·takes their life away [requires their life]?
9 God will not listen to their cries
when trouble comes to them.
10 ·They will not [Will they…?] find joy in ·the Almighty [Shaddai],
·even though [or will…?] they call out to God all the time.
11 “I will ·teach [instruct] you about the ·power [L hand] of God
and will not ·hide [conceal] ·the ways of [L that which is with] ·the Almighty [Shaddai].
12 You have all seen this yourselves.
·So why are we having all this talk that means nothing [L Why have you become so meaningless/vaporous/vain]?
13 “Here is ·what God has planned for evil people [L the lot of evil people with God],
and ·that the Almighty will give to cruel people [L the inheritance that the cruel receive from the Almighty/Shaddai]:
14 They may have many children, but the sword will kill them.
Their ·children [L offspring] will never have enough ·to eat [L bread; food].
15 Then those who are left will die of disease and be buried,
and the widows will not even cry for them.
16 ·The wicked [L They] may heap up silver like ·piles of dirt [dust]
and ·have so many clothes they are like piles of clay [pile up clothes like mounds of earth/clay].
17 But ·good people [the righteous] will wear ·what evil people have gathered [L them],
and the innocent will ·divide up [distribute among themselves] their silver.
18 ·The houses the wicked build are [L They will build their houses] like a ·spider’s web [or moth’s cocoon],
like a ·hut [booth; shelter] that a guard builds.
19 ·The wicked are rich when they go to bed [L They may lie down wealthy],
but ·they are rich for the last time [L not again];
when they open their eyes, everything is gone.
20 ·Fears [Terrors] ·come over [overtake] them like ·a flood [waters],
and a storm snatches them away in the night.
21 The east wind will ·carry them away [L lift them up], and then they are gone,
because it sweeps them out of their place.
22 ·The wind [or God; L He; It] will hit them without mercy
as they ·try to run away [flee] from ·its power [or his power/hand].
23 It will be as if ·the wind [or God; L he; it] is clapping ·its [or his] hands;
·it [or he] will ·whistle [or hiss] at them as they run from their place [C clapping and hissing are gestures of contempt].