I Hold Fast My Righteousness
Then Job continued to lift up his adiscourse and said,
2 “As God lives, awho has removed my justice,
And the Almighty, bwho has embittered my soul,
3 For as long as breath is in me,
And the aspirit from God is in my nostrils,
4 My lips certainly will not speak unrighteousness,
Nor will amy tongue utter deceit.
5 Far be it from me that I should declare you right;
Till I breathe my last aI will not remove my integrity from me.
6 I ahold 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.
8 For what is athe hope of the godless when he is cut off,
When God requires bhis soul?
9 Will God ahear his cry
When bdistress comes upon him?
10 Will he take adelight in the Almighty?
Will he call on God at all times?
11 I will instruct you in the power of God;
What is with the Almighty I will not conceal.
12 Behold, all of you have seen it;
Why then do you speak with utter vanity?
13 “This is athe portion of a wicked man from God,
And the inheritance which the bruthless receive from the Almighty.
14 Though his sons are many, they are destined afor the sword;
And his boffspring will not be satisfied with bread.
15 His survivors will be buried because of the plague,
And their awidows will not be able to weep.
16 Though he piles up silver like dust
And prepares garments as plentiful as the clay,
17 He may prepare it, abut the righteous will wear it,
And the innocent will divide the silver.
18 He has built his ahouse like the moth,
Or as a hut which the watchman has made.
19 He lies down rich, but never again;
He opens his eyes, and ait is no longer.
20 aTerrors overtake him like many waters;
A tempest steals him away bin the night.
21 The east awind carries him away, and he goes,
And it whirls him baway from his place.
22 For it will hurl at him awithout sparing;
He will surely try to bflee from its power.
23 Men will clap their hands at him
And will ahiss him from his place.