I Hold Fast My Righteousness

1Then Job continued to lift up his [†]discourse and said,

2“As God lives, who has removed my justice,

And the Almighty, who has embittered my soul,

3For as long as breath is in me,

And the spirit from God is in my nostrils,

4My lips certainly will not speak unrighteousness,

Nor will my tongue utter deceit.

5Far be it from me that I should declare you right;

Till I breathe my last I will not remove my integrity from me.

6I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go.

My heart does not reproach any of my days.

7“May my enemy be as the wicked

And the one who rises against me as the unjust.

8For what is the hope of the godless [†]when he is cut off,

When God requires his [†]soul?

9Will God hear his cry

When distress comes upon him?

10Will he take delight in the Almighty?

Will he call on God at all times?

11I will instruct you in the [†]power of God;

What is with the Almighty I will not conceal.

12Behold, all of you have seen it;

Why then do you speak with utter vanity?

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

And the inheritance which the ruthless receive from the Almighty.

14Though his sons are many, [†]they are destined for the sword;

And his offspring will not be satisfied with bread.

15His survivors will be buried because of the plague,

And [†]their widows will not be able to weep.

16Though he piles up silver like dust

And prepares garments as plentiful as the clay,

17He may prepare it, but the righteous will wear it,

And the innocent will divide the silver.

18He has built his house like the [†]moth,

Or as a hut which the watchman has made.

19He lies down rich, but never [†]again;

He opens his eyes, and it is no longer.

20Terrors overtake him like many waters;

A tempest steals him away in the night.

21The east wind carries him away, and he goes,

And it whirls him away from his place.

22For it will hurl at him without sparing;

He will surely try to flee from its [†]power.

23Men will clap their hands at him

And will hiss him from his place.