Job’s Final Speech

1Job continued speaking:

2“I vow by the living God, who has taken away my rights,

by the Almighty who has embittered my soul—

3As long as I live,

while I have breath from God,

4my lips will speak no evil,

and my tongue will speak no lies.

5I will never concede that you are right;

I will defend my integrity until I die.

6I will maintain my innocence without wavering.

My conscience is clear for as long as I live.

7“May my enemy be punished like the wicked,

my adversary like those who do evil.

8For what hope do the godless have when God cuts them off

and takes away their life?

9Will God listen to their cry

when trouble comes upon them?

10Can they take delight in the Almighty?

Can they call to God at any time?

11I will teach you about God’s power.

I will not conceal anything concerning the Almighty.

12But you have seen all this,

yet you say all these useless things to me.

13“This is what the wicked will receive from God;

this is their inheritance from the Almighty.

14They may have many children,

but the children will die in war or starve to death.

15Those who survive will die of a plague,

and not even their widows will mourn them.

16“Evil people may have piles of money

and may store away mounds of clothing.

17But the righteous will wear that clothing,

and the innocent will divide that money.

18The wicked build houses as fragile as a spider’s web,a

as flimsy as a shelter made of branches.

19The wicked go to bed rich

but wake to find that all their wealth is gone.

20Terror overwhelms them like a flood,

and they are blown away in the storms of the night.

21The east wind carries them away, and they are gone.

It sweeps them away.

22It whirls down on them without mercy.

They struggle to flee from its power.

23But everyone jeers at them

and mocks them.