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Job 27

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Job's Final Parable Begins 1–4

1
And Job again took up his parable, and said,
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As God liveth, who hath taken away my right, And the Almighty, who hath vexed my soul ​
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(For my life is yet whole in me, And the spirit of God is in my nostrils);
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Surely my lips shall not speak unrighteousness, Neither shall my tongue utter deceit.

An Oath of Integrity 5–10

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Far be it from me that I should justify you: Till I die I will not put away mine integrity from me. ​
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My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: My heart shall not reproachmeso long as I live.
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Let mine enemy be as the wicked, And let him that riseth up against me be as the unrighteous. ​
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For what is the hope of the godless, though he get him gain, When God taketh away his soul? ​
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Will God hear his cry, When trouble cometh upon him?
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Will he delight himself in the Almighty, And call upon God at all times?

The Portion of the Wicked 11–23

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I will teach you concerning the hand of God; That which is with the Almighty will I not conceal. ​
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Behold, all ye yourselves have seen it; Why then are ye become altogether vain?
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This is the portion of a wicked man with God, And the heritage of oppressors, which they receive from the Almighty: ​
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If his children be multiplied, it is for the sword; And his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread.
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Those that remain of him shall be buried in death, And his widows shall make no lamentation. ​
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Though he heap up silver as the dust, And prepare raiment as the clay;
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He may prepare it, but the just shall put it on, And the innocent shall divide the silver.
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He buildeth his house as the moth, And as a booth which the keeper maketh. ​
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He lieth down rich, but he shall not be gathered to his fathers; He openeth his eyes, and he is not.
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Terrors overtake him like waters; A tempest stealeth him away in the night.
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The east wind carrieth him away, and he departeth; And it sweepeth him out of his place.
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For Godshall hurl at him, and not spare: He would fain flee out of his hand.
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Men shall clap their hands at him, And shall hiss him out of his place. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Job 27

Verse 2

As God liveth — Job swears by the living God (chay) while saying that this same God 'hath taken away my judgment', his right or verdict (mishpat), the charge Elihu repeats at 34:5. 'Vexed' is marar, made bitter, the verb of Naomi's 'the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me' (Ruth 1:20).

Verse 5

mine integrity — Tummah, the word the LORD used of Job to Satan, 'still he holdeth fast his integrity' (2:3), and which his wife challenged (2:9). 'God forbid' is chalilah, far be it; 'justify' is tsadaq, to declare in the right. Job will not call his friends right in charging him with guilt.

Verse 7

Let mine enemy be as the wicked — Job now states the friends' teaching himself in vv.8–23, as Eliphaz (15:20–35), Bildad (18:5–21) and Zophar (20:5–29) had before him. 'Wicked' is rasha and 'unrighteous' is avval, one who does wrong. He wishes that end on whoever rises up against him.

Verse 8

the hypocrite — Chaneph, the impious, one soiled with sin. Bildad had said 'the hypocrite's hope shall perish' (8:13), and Job takes up the same subject. 'Hope' is tiqvah; 'gained' is batsa, usually to plunder; and God 'taketh away his soul' (shalah, to draw out) at death, whatever has been seized.

Verse 11

by the hand of God — Job says his teaching comes from the hand he had said 'hath touched me' (19:21), the hand all creatures know has 'wrought this' (12:9). 'Conceal' is kachad, to hide. He will teach 'that which is with the Almighty' and keep nothing back, namely the portion of the wicked in vv.13–23.

Verse 13

the portion of a wicked man — Close to Zophar's last line, 'This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed unto him by God' (20:29). 'Portion' is cheleq, an allotted share; 'heritage' is nachalah, inheritance; 'oppressors' (arits) are the ruthless and violent.

Verse 15

his widows shall not weep — 'Those that remain' (sarid) are the survivors, who are buried 'in death' (mavet) with no mourning. Psalm 78:64 records the same silence after Shiloh: 'Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows made no lamentation.'

Verse 18

as a moth — Ash, the moth, which destroys what it feeds on. Job used it of 'a garment that is moth eaten' (13:28), and Eliphaz of those 'crushed before the moth' (4:19). The 'booth' is sukkah, a hut like 'a cottage in a vineyard' (Isa 1:8), put up by a keeper (natsar, a watchman) for a season.

Verse 23

clap their hands — Saphaq, to clap the hands in scorn, with sharaq, to hiss. The two stand together in Lamentations 2:15, where all who pass by 'clap their hands' and 'hiss' at Jerusalem. The wicked man is hissed 'out of his place', driven from the home he had held.