Job 27  Tree of Life Version

² “As God lives, who has deprived me of justice,
    Shaddai who has made my soul bitter,
³ as long as my breath is still in me,
    the Ruach of God in my nostrils,
⁴ my lips will speak no injustice,
    nor will my tongue mutter deceit.
⁵ Far be it from me to say that you are just;
    until I die, I will not set aside my integrity!
⁶ I will maintain my righteousness, and not let it go;
my conscience will not reproach me for any of my days.

⁷ “May my enemy be like the wicked
    my enemy like the unrighteous.
⁸ For what hope has the godless,
    when he is cut off,
    when God takes his soul?^[a]
9 Will God hear his cry
    when trouble comes upon him?
¹⁰ Will he delight in Shaddai?
    Will he call upon God at all times?
¹¹ I will teach you about the hand of God;
    I will not conceal the ways of Shaddai.
¹² Look, you have all seen this yourselves.
    Why then this meaningless talk?

¹³ “This is the portion of a wicked man with God,
the inheritance that ruthless men receive from Shaddai.
¹⁴ If his children increase—
    it is for the sword.
His offspring will never
    have enough to eat.
¹⁵ Those who survive him will be buried by the plague,
and their widows will not weep.
¹⁶ Though he piles up silver like dust,
    and clothing like heaps of mortar,
¹⁷ what he lays up, the righteous will wear,
    and the upright will divide the silver.
¹⁸ The house he built is like a moth’s cocoon,
    like a hut made for a watchman.
¹⁹ “He lies down wealthy,
    but will gather no more.
When he opens his eyes,
    all is gone!
²⁰ Terrors overtake him like a flood;
    a storm sweeps him away at night.
²¹ The east wind picks him up and he is gone;
    it sweeps him out of his place.
²² It hurls itself at him without pity
    as he flees headlong from its hand.
²³ It claps its hands at him in derision,
    and hisses him out of his place.”