Job reiterates his honesty and integrity, reminding his companions that were he truly impious, he would not deign to be heard by the deity. Irritated by his friends’ preaching, he quotes back at them the nonsense they have been saying. (The fact that Job’s paraphrase of the companions’ message is marked in the rhetoric has not been discerned by commentators, who tend to attribute verses 13–23 to the missing response of Zophar.)
[27:1] Job again took up his discourse and he said:
[2] By the life of El, he has set aside my charges!
Shaddai has embittered my life!
[3–4] So long as there is life-breath within me,
And in my nostrils Eloah’s spirit,
I swear that my lips will speak nothing corrupt,
And my tongue will utter no deceit.
[5–7] God forbid1 I declare you2 in the right—
Not till I expire!
I will not set aside my integrity.
I hold fast to my righteousness;
I will not let it go.
My heart3 has never been impudent (saying):
“May my enemy be like the wicked,
And my opponent like the corrupt!”4
[8–10] For what hope will the impudent gain
If he turns to Eloah in prayer?5
Will his outcry be heard by El
When he’s overcome by disaster?
Can he entreat Shaddai,
Or call on Eloah at will?6
[11] I will instruct you in the powers of El;
What Shaddai has in hand I will not conceal.
[12] Since you have yourselves all been witness,7
How could you be spewing such nonsense:8
[13] “This is the wicked man’s portion from El,
The allotment that villains9 receive from Shaddai:10
[14–15] Should he11 have many children—the sword is their fate;12
And as for his offspring, they will want for food.13
Those who survive him will be buried in a plague;14
And their widows will not mourn them.15
[16–17] If he amasses silver like dirt,
And stores up garments like soil,
He will store up—but the righteous will wear;
And the silver—the innocent will receive.16
[18] Like a spider17 he builds his house;
Like the hut a watchman makes.
[19] He lies down wealthy but it will not persist;18
He will open his eyes—and be (wealthy) no more.19
[20–21] Terror will wash him away like water;20
A whirlwind at night will steal him away.
An east wind will lift him and blow,
Sweeping him far from his home.21
[22] He22 shoots at him without sparing (an arrow);23
And he24 flees in flight from his hand.
[23] People25 clap their hands at him,
And hiss at him wherever they are.”26
1. For the full phrase, including the name of the deity, see 1 Samuel 24:6.
2. My companions.
3. The ultimate source of speech; see at 8:10.
4. Characteristically, Job had never employed a curse, even against his enemies. Compare his concern that his children might curse the deity in their hearts in a lightheaded moment (1:5).
5. Literally, “if he raises his spirit to Eloah.” Assuming an aleph has been dropped, I read yissa’ le’loah; see Psalm 25:1; Lamentations 3:41; and compare Job 22:26 (so Ball, The Book of Job). The received reading yeishel yields interpretations that do not comport with the context.
6. Literally, “at any time.”
7. Literally, “have seen”; Job’s companions are aware of his situation.
8. More literally, “breathing out such windy-speech.” For the verb and its usage, compare Jeremiah 23:16, where it is said of false prophets. The verb introduces direct discourse here—as Job quotes and paraphrases the kinds of things his friends have been saying.
9. “Brigands” in 6:23.
10. This verse is an almost verbatim quotation of Zophar in 20:29, a fact that supports the thesis that Job is here citing what he regards as the absurd contentions of his friends.
11. The wicked.
12. Literally, “to the sword”; compare Jeremiah 15:2.
13. Compare Bildad in 18:16, 19; Zophar in 20:4–11, 21, 26; Eliphaz in 22:15–16, 20.
14. For “death” in the sense of plague, see for example Exodus 10:17; Jeremiah 15:2.
15. Compare Psalm 78:64.
16. More literally, “receive as a portion,” echoing verse 13 above. For a similar sentiment, compare Zophar in 20:18–21.
17. Two letters have fallen out of the word ‘akabish “spider,” leaving the word ‘ash “moth”; the correct reading is supported by the ancient Greek and Syriac translations; and compare Saadia and R. Meyuhhas, among others. For the image of a flimsy spider’s web, see Bildad in 8:13–15; compare 18:14–15.
18. Reading yosip “he adds” for ye’asep “he is gathered” with support of the Greek and Syriac translations. For the verb hosip spelled with aleph, see for example 1 Samuel 18:20.
19. Compare Zophar in 20:7–9.
20. Compare Zophar in 20:28 and Eliphaz in 22:11. For the image, compare Hosea 5:10. The verb has the sense of “wash away” in Aramaic.
21. Compare Bildad in 18:14.
22. God. This verse alludes to Zophar’s image of the wicked fleeing the weapons of the deity in 20:24–25. Only in that context can the laconic language of the verse be understood (Kahana).
23. For the context and usages, see Jeremiah 50:14.
24. The wicked.
25. Singular in the Hebrew: “one claps one’s hands …”
26. Clapping and hissing are gestures a spectator makes when seeing the abject; see Lamentations 2:15. Job apparently alludes to Bildad’s description of people’s reactions to the wicked’s downfall in 18:20.