1 And Job took up his discourse again:
2 “As surely as God lives, who has denied me justice,
the Almighty, who has made my life bitter—
3 for while my spirit is still in me,
and the breath from God is in my nostrils,
4 my lips will not speak wickedness,
and my tongue will whisper no deceit.
5 I will never declare that you three are in the right;
until I die, I will not set aside my integrity!
6 I will maintain my righteousness
and never let it go;
my conscience will not reproach me
for as long as I live.

7 “May my enemy be like the wicked,
my adversary like the unrighteous.
8 For what hope does the godless have when he is cut off,
when God takes away his life?
9 Does God listen to his cry
when distress overtakes him?
10 Will he find delight in the Almighty?
Will he call out to God at all times?
11 I will teach you about the power of God;
what is on the Almighty’s mind I will not conceal.
12 If you yourselves have all seen this,
Why in the world do you continue this meaningless talk?
13 This is the portion of the wicked man
allotted by God,
the inheritance that evildoers receive
from the Almighty.
14 If his children increase—it is for the sword!
His offspring never have enough to eat.
15 Those who survive him are buried by the plague,
and their widows do not mourn for them.
16 If he piles up silver like dust
and stores up clothing like mounds of clay,
17 what he stores up a righteous man will wear,
and an innocent man will inherit his silver.
18 The house he builds is as fragile as a moth’s cocoon,
like a hut that a watchman has made.
19 He goes to bed wealthy, but will do so no more.
When he opens his eyes, it is all gone.
20 Terrors overwhelm him like a flood;
at night a whirlwind carries him off.
21 The east wind carries him away, and he is gone;
it sweeps him out of his place.
22 It hurls itself against him without pity
as he flees headlong from its power.
23 It claps its hands at him in derision
and hisses him away from his place.

REFLECTIONS

Yesterday we heard Bildad’s very short and aggressive final speech, and Job’s reply. Zophar’s final speech should have come next, but he doesn’t say anything at all. That’s why Job 27:1 starts, “And Job took up his discourse again” – Job had paused to give Zophar a chance to have his say, but Zophar has decided that Job isn’t worth wasting breath on. So Job continues with the very last speech in the debate.

But it gets weirder, because in the last section of his speech (verses 7-23), Job sounds more like he’s saying what Zophar would have said if he wasn’t sulking – that the godless and wicked cannot escape God’s judgment. It all seems a bit confusing!

But there’s one thing that is crystal-clear. In verses 1-6, Job still insists that in his own case, God has denied him justice (v2). The friends have been pressuring Job to say, “OK, OK, you win: I’m really am an evil and godless man, I’ve been hiding my sin, and God is absolutely right to punish me like this.” But Job cannot even tell that “little” lie to get his friends off his back! That is how strong his integrity is: He says, “my tongue will whisper no deceit.”

Once again, that reminds me of Jesus. When Jesus was arrested, the religious leaders pressured him, under the threat of torture and death, to confess that he was a blasphemer. But Peter tells us: “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth. … Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly” (1 Peter 2:22-23).

Pray that God would give us the same unshakeable integrity with our words. But even more, thank God for Jesus’ perfect integrity, which meant he was able to “bear our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live to righteousness” (1 Peter 2:24).