Job 27

¹⁵Then Balaam lifted up an oracle, saying, “This is the prophecy of Balaam son of Beor, the prophecy of a man whose eyes are open,

⁷And Balaam lifted up an oracle, saying: “Balak brought me from Aram, the king of Moab from the mountains of the east. ‘Come,’ he said, ‘put a curse on Jacob for me; come and denounce Israel!’

¹And Job continued his discourse:

⁷Like lame legs hanging limp is a proverb in the mouth of a fool.

³and he lifted up an oracle, saying: “This is the prophecy of Balaam son of Beor, the prophecy of a man whose eyes are open,

²I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the beginning,

⁵For Job has declared, ‘I am righteous, yet God has deprived me of justice.

²⁷When she reached the man of God at the mountain, she clung to his feet. Gehazi came over to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone, for her soul is in deep distress, and the Lord has hidden it from me and has not told me.”

²¹“Yet as surely as I live and as surely as the whole earth is filled with the glory of the Lord,

¹⁵Then Elijah said, “As surely as the Lord of Hosts lives, before whom I stand, I will present myself to Ahab today.”

²⁷Why do you say, O Jacob, and why do you assert, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my claim is ignored by my God”?

²¹Then I will send a boy and say, ‘Go, find the arrows!’ Now, if I expressly say to him, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you; bring them,’ then come, because as surely as the Lord lives, it is safe for you, and there is no danger.

⁷Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.

⁴The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.

²²Put no more trust in man, who has only the breath in his nostrils. Of what account is he?

⁸But there is a spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding.

²⁵Nor is He served by human hands, as if He needed anything, because He Himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.

⁷Will you speak wickedly on God’s behalf or speak deceitfully for Him?

²⁸But now, please look at me. Would I lie to your face?

⁵⁵You do not know Him, but I know Him. If I said I did not know Him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know Him, and I keep His word.

¹⁰As surely as the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia.

⁶Would I lie about my case? My wound is incurable, though I am without transgression.’

⁹Then Job’s wife said to him, “Do you still retain your integrity? Curse God and die!”

¹⁵Though He slay me, I will hope in Him. I will still defend my ways to His face.

⁷After the Lord had spoken these words to Job, He said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and your two friends. For you have not spoken about Me accurately, as My servant Job has.

¹⁵Acquitting the guilty and condemning the righteous—both are detestable to the Lord.

¹⁴I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; justice was my robe and my turban.

¹If there is a dispute between men, they are to go to court to be judged, so that the innocent may be acquitted and the guilty condemned.

³Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one on earth like him, a man who is blameless and upright, who fears God and shuns evil. He still retains his integrity, even though you incited Me against him to ruin him without cause.”

¹⁶In this hope, I strive always to maintain a clear conscience before God and man.

²⁰Even if our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts, and He knows all things.

²¹Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God,

¹³Hold on to instruction; do not let go. Guard it, for it is your life.

¹¹I have become a fool, but you drove me to it. In fact, you should have commended me, since I am in no way inferior to those “super-apostles,” even though I am nothing.

²⁰The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness; He has repaid me according to the cleanness of my hands.

²¹For I have kept the ways of the Lord and have not wickedly departed from my God.

¹⁹For a time, Daniel, who was also known as Belteshazzar, was perplexed, and his thoughts alarmed him. So the king said, “Belteshazzar, do not let the dream or its interpretation alarm you.” “My lord,” replied Belteshazzar, “may the dream apply to those who hate you, and its interpretation to your enemies!

³²The king asked the Cushite, “Is the young man Absalom all right?” And the Cushite replied, “May the enemies of my lord the king and all who rise up against you to harm you be like that young man.”

²⁶Now, my lord, as surely as the Lord lives and you yourself live, since the Lord has held you back from bloodshed and from avenging yourself with your own hand, may your enemies and those who seek harm for my lord be like Nabal.

²⁶What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?

¹³Such is the destiny of all who forget God; so the hope of the godless will perish.

²⁰But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be required of you. Then who will own what you have accumulated?’

²¹This is how it will be for anyone who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich toward God.”

²⁰But the eyes of the wicked will fail, and escape will elude them; they will hope for their last breath.”

¹Come now, you who are rich, weep and wail over the misery to come upon you.

²Your riches have rotted and moths have eaten your clothes.

²⁵What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet lose or forfeit his very self?

¹²Although they may fast, I will not listen to their cry; although they may offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Instead, I will finish them off by sword and famine and plague.”

²⁸Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; they will earnestly seek me, but will not find me.

¹⁵When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you multiply your prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.

¹²There they cry out, but He does not answer, because of the pride of evil men.

¹³Surely God does not listen to empty pleas, and the Almighty does not take note of it.

⁴¹They cried for help, but there was no one to save them—to the Lord, but He did not answer.

⁴Then they will cry out to the Lord, but He will not answer them. At that time He will hide His face from them because of the evil they have done.

²⁶Surely then you will delight in the Almighty and lift up your face to God.

²⁷You will pray to Him, and He will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows.

⁴Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.

¹⁸yet I will exult in the Lord; I will rejoice in the God of my salvation!

⁴Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my greatest joy. I will praise You with the harp, O God, my God.

³⁴When He slew them, they would seek Him; they repented and searched for God.

³⁵And they remembered that God was their Rock, that God Most High was their Redeemer.

¹Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray at all times and not lose heart:

¹⁷O God, You have taught me from my youth, and to this day I proclaim Your marvelous deeds.

³Surely you have instructed many, and have strengthened their feeble hands.

⁴Your words have steadied those who stumbled; you have braced the knees that were buckling.

¹¹For this is what the Lord has spoken to me with a strong hand, instructing me not to walk in the way of this people:

⁵See, I have taught you statutes and ordinances just as the Lord my God has commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land that you are about to enter and possess.

¹⁰It still brings me comfort, and joy through unrelenting pain, that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

²⁰I did not shrink back from declaring anything that was helpful to you as I taught you publicly and from house to house,

³Is there no end to your long-winded speeches? What provokes you to continue testifying?

³Bear with me while I speak; then, after I have spoken, you may go on mocking.

²“How long will you torment me and crush me with your words?

³Ten times now you have reproached me; you shamelessly mistreat me.

²⁵How painful are honest words! But what does your argument prove?

²⁶Do you intend to correct my words, and treat as wind my cry of despair?

⁴You, however, smear with lies; you are all worthless physicians.

⁵If only you would remain silent; for that would be your wisdom!

¹⁴There is a futility that is done on the earth: There are righteous men who get what the actions of the wicked deserve, and there are wicked men who get what the actions of the righteous deserve. I say that this too is futile.

¹⁹For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor; he has seized houses he did not build.

²⁰Because his appetite is never satisfied, he cannot escape with his treasure.

⁹if all this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.

²⁰A wicked man writhes in pain all his days; only a few years are reserved for the ruthless.

²¹Sounds of terror fill his ears; in his prosperity the destroyer attacks him.

¹¹Woe to the wicked; disaster is upon them! For they will be repaid with what their hands have done.

⁶On the wicked He will rain down fiery coals and sulfur; a scorching wind will be their portion.

³Does not disaster come to the unjust and calamity to the workers of iniquity?

⁴¹You will father sons and daughters, but they will not remain yours, because they will go into captivity.

²⁹Look, the days are coming when people will say, ‘Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore, and breasts that never nursed!’

¹⁰His sons will seek the favor of the poor, for his own hands must return his wealth.

¹¹Haman recounted to them his glorious wealth, his many sons, and all the ways the king had honored and promoted him over the other officials and servants.

¹³May his descendants be cut off; may their name be blotted out from the next generation.

⁵The well-fed hire themselves out for food, but the starving hunger no more. The barren woman gives birth to seven, but she who has many sons pines away.

⁶⁴His priests fell by the sword, but their widows could not lament.

³So now I will consume Baasha and his house, and I will make your house like that of Jeroboam son of Nebat:

⁴Anyone belonging to Baasha who dies in the city will be eaten by dogs, and anyone who dies in the field will be eaten by the birds of the air.”

¹⁸Therefore this is what the Lord says concerning Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah: “They will not mourn for him: ‘Alas, my brother! Alas, my sister!’ They will not mourn for him: ‘Alas, my master! Alas, his splendor!’

²¹This is what the Lord says: ‘I will bring calamity on you and consume your descendants; I will cut off from Ahab every male in Israel, both slave and free.

²²I will make your house like that of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like that of Baasha son of Ahijah, because you have provoked My anger and caused Israel to sin.’

¹⁰Because of all this, behold, I am bringing disaster on the house of Jeroboam: I will cut off from Jeroboam every male, both slave and free, in Israel; I will burn up the house of Jeroboam as one burns up dung until it is gone!

¹¹Anyone belonging to Jeroboam who dies in the city will be eaten by dogs, and anyone who dies in the field will be eaten by the birds of the air.’ For the Lord has spoken.

³Tyre has built herself a fortress; she has heaped up silver like dust, and gold like the dirt of the streets.

¹⁹Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.

²⁴and consign your gold to the dust and the gold of Ophir to the stones of the ravines,

²Your riches have rotted and moths have eaten your clothes.

⁶Will not all of these take up a taunt against him, speaking with mockery and derision: ‘Woe to him who amasses what is not his and makes himself rich with many loans! How long will this go on?’

²⁷The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as abundant as sycamore in the foothills.

²²A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the sinner’s wealth is passed to the righteous.

⁸He who increases his wealth by interest and usury lays it up for one who is kind to the poor.

²⁶To the man who is pleasing in His sight, He gives wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner He assigns the task of gathering and accumulating that which he will hand over to one who pleases God. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

¹⁴His confidence is fragile; his security is in a spider’s web.

¹⁵He leans on his web, but it gives way; he holds fast, but it does not endure.

⁸And the Daughter of Zion is abandoned like a shelter in a vineyard, like a shack in a cucumber field, like a city besieged.

⁸For the moth will devour them like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool. But My righteousness will last forever, My salvation through all generations.”

¹²My dwelling has been picked up and removed from me like a shepherd’s tent. I have rolled up my life like a weaver; He cuts me off from the loom; from day until night You make an end of me.

⁶He has laid waste His tabernacle like a garden booth; He has destroyed His place of meeting. The Lord has made Zion forget her appointed feasts and Sabbaths. In His fierce anger He has despised both king and priest.

²⁴They are exalted for a moment, then they are gone; they are brought low and gathered up like all others; they are cut off like heads of grain.

⁹Before your pots can feel the burning thorns—whether green or dry—He will sweep them away.

¹⁹How suddenly they are laid waste, completely swept away by terrors!

²⁰Like one waking from a dream, so You, O Lord, awaken and despise their form.

²They will be exposed to the sun and moon, and to all the host of heaven which they have loved, served, followed, consulted, and worshiped. Their bones will not be gathered up or buried, but will become like dung lying on the ground.

³⁷O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling!

⁷he will perish forever, like his own dung; those who had seen him will ask, ‘Where is he?’

⁸He will fly away like a dream, never to be found; he will be chased away like a vision in the night.

²¹Sounds of terror fill his ears; in his prosperity the destroyer attacks him.

¹¹Terrors frighten him on every side and harass his every step.

³⁵And that very night the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning, there were all the dead bodies!

²⁹Now at midnight the Lord struck down every firstborn male in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on his throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner in the dungeon, as well as all the firstborn among the livestock.

¹⁸Are they like straw before the wind, like chaff swept away by a storm?

²³When he has filled his stomach, God will vent His fury upon him, raining it down on him as he eats.

⁶On the wicked He will rain down fiery coals and sulfur; a scorching wind will be their portion.

¹⁵so pursue them with Your tempest, and terrify them with Your storm.

¹⁰He never returns to his house; his place remembers him no more.

¹⁸Are they like straw before the wind, like chaff swept away by a storm?

⁹Before your pots can feel the burning thorns—whether green or dry—He will sweep them away.

²⁷The rain fell, the torrents raged, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its collapse!”

⁴For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them deep into hell, placing them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment;

⁵if He did not spare the ancient world when He brought the flood on its ungodly people, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, among the eight;

¹⁴I, the Lord, have spoken; the time is coming, and I will act. I will not refrain or show pity, nor will I relent. I will judge you according to your ways and deeds,’ declares the Lord God.”

²⁰But the eyes of the wicked will fail, and escape will elude them; they will hope for their last breath.”

¹¹Therefore as surely as I live, declares the Lord God, because you have defiled My sanctuary with all your detestable idols and abominations, I Myself will withdraw My favor; I will not look upon you with pity, nor will I spare you.

²⁴Though he flees from an iron weapon, a bronze-tipped arrow will pierce him.

¹⁴Otherwise, I will send all My plagues against you and your officials and your people, so you may know that there is no one like Me in all the earth.

¹⁵All who pass by clap their hands at you in scorn. They hiss and shake their heads at the Daughter of Jerusalem: “Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of all the earth?”

⁸And when this temple has become a heap of rubble, all who pass by it will be appalled and will hiss and say, ‘Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’

¹⁰When the righteous thrive, the city rejoices, and when the wicked perish, there are shouts of joy.

⁸I will make this city a desolation and an object of scorn. All who pass by will be appalled and will scoff at all her wounds.

¹⁵This carefree city that dwells securely, that thinks to herself: “I am it, and there is none besides me,” what a ruin she has become, a resting place for beasts. Everyone who passes by her hisses and shakes his fist.

²²as the days on which the Jews gained rest from their enemies and the month in which their sorrow turned to joy and their mourning into a holiday. He wrote that these were to be days of feasting and joy, of sending gifts to one another and to the poor.

²³So the Jews agreed to continue the custom they had started, as Mordecai had written to them.