Job 27:1-23
1 Moreover Job continueda his parable, and said,
2 As God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment; and the Almighty, who hath vexedb my soul;
3 All the while my breath is in me, and the spiritc of God is in my nostrils;
4 My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit.
5 God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.
6 My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.
7 Let mine enemy be as the wicked, and he that riseth up against me as the unrighteous.
8 For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul?
9 Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him?
10 Will he delight himself in the Almighty? will he always call upon God?
11 I will teach you by the hand of God: that which is with the Almighty will I not conceal.
12 Behold, all ye yourselves have seen it; why then are ye thus altogether vain?
13 This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the heritage of oppressors, which they shall receive of the Almighty.
14 If his children be multiplied, it is for the sword: and his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread.
15 Those that remain of him shall be buried in death: and his widows shall not weep.
16 Though he heap up silver as the dust, and prepare raiment as the clay;
17 He may prepare it, but the just shall put it on, and the innocent shall divide the silver.
18 He buildeth his house as a moth, and as a booth that the keeper maketh.
19 The rich man shall lie down, but he shall not be gathered: he openeth his eyes, and he is not.
20 Terrors take hold on him as waters, a tempest stealeth him away in the night.
21 The east wind carrieth him away, and he departeth: and as a storm hurleth him out of his place.
22 For God shall cast upon him, and not spare: he would fain flee out of his hand.
23 Men shall clap their hands at him, and shall hiss him out of his place.
There would seem to have been a pause after Job's answer to Bildad. The suggestion is that he waited for Zophar, and seeing that Zophar was silent, he took the initiative, and made general reply.
This reply opens with a protestation of innocence (1-6). This was his direct answer to the charge made by Eliphaz. Its terms are to be carefully noted. He swore by God, while yet repeating his complaint, that God had taken away his right and vexed his soul. He refused to move from the position he had occupied throughout. He would not justify his opponents in the debate. He had been righteous, and he reaffirmed it. From this protestation his answer proceeded in terms of anger. In this imprecation, in which he expressed the desire that his enemy might be as the wicked, the deepest conviction of his soul seems to rise, in spite of himself, and it is in direct contradiction of the complaints he had made of the withdrawal of God from interference in the affairs of men. Summoning all the strength of his faith, he declared that he would teach his opponents "concerning the hand of God," and he now practically took hold of all that they had said about God's visitation on the wicked, and hurled it back on them as an anathema. He splendidly admitted the truth of their philosophy, but denied its application to himself. He thus left the whole problem full of mystery. All the things they had said were true, but they were not true to him. There must be some other way to account for his suffering. These arguments as here stated are not declared, but they are of plain inference from this angry retort on Job's foes.