Job’s Final Word to His Friends
1And Job continued his discourse:
2“As surely as God lives, who has denied me justice,
the Almighty, who has made my life bitter,
3as long as I have life within me,
the breath of God in my nostrils,
4my lips will not say anything wicked,
and my tongue will not utter lies.
5I will never admit you are in the right;
till I die, I will not deny my integrity.
6I will maintain my innocence and never let go of it;
my conscience will not reproach me as long as I live.
7“May my enemy be like the wicked,
my adversary like the unjust!
8For what hope have the godless when they are cut off,
when God takes away their life?
9Does God listen to their cry
when distress comes upon them?
10Will they find delight in the Almighty?
Will they call on God at all times?
11“I will teach you about the power of God;
the ways of the Almighty I will not conceal.
12You have all seen this yourselves.
Why then this meaningless talk?
13“Here is the fate God allots to the wicked,
the heritage a ruthless man receives from the Almighty:
14However many his children, their fate is the sword;
his offspring will never have enough to eat.
15The plague will bury those who survive him,
and their widows will not weep for them.
16Though he heaps up silver like dust
and clothes like piles of clay,
17what he lays up the righteous will wear,
and the innocent will divide his silver.
18The house he builds is like a moth’s cocoon,
like a hut made by a watchman.
19He lies down wealthy, but will do so no more;
when he opens his eyes, all is gone.
20Terrors overtake him like a flood;
a tempest snatches him away in the night.
21The east wind carries him off, and he is gone;
it sweeps him out of his place.
22It hurls itself against him without mercy
as he flees headlong from its power.
23It claps its hands in derision
and hisses him out of his place.”
1約伯接著說：
2「我憑不給我公道的永恆上帝，
憑使我靈魂陷入痛苦的全能者起誓，
3只要我一息尚存，
鼻中還有上帝之氣，
4我的嘴唇決不說惡語，
舌頭決不講謊話。
5我決不承認你們有理，
我至死堅信自己無辜。
6我堅守自己的公義，決不放棄，
我有生之年都問心無愧。
7「願我仇敵的下場和惡人一樣，
願我對頭的結局和罪人相同。
8因為不敬虔的人將被剷除，上帝將奪去他的性命。
那時，他還有何指望？
9患難臨到他時，
上帝豈會垂聽他的呼求？
10他豈會以全能者為樂，
時時求告上帝？
11「我要教導你們有關上帝的能力，
我不會隱瞞全能者的作為。
12其實你們也曾親眼目睹，
為何還講這些虛妄之言？
13「以下是上帝給惡人的歸宿，
全能者讓兇徒承受的結局。
14他的兒女再多也難逃殺戮，
他的子孫永遠無法果腹。
15他倖存的後人被瘟疫吞噬，
家中的寡婦也不哀哭。
16儘管他堆積的銀子多如塵沙，
儲存的衣服高若土堆，
17但義人將穿他儲存的衣服，
清白的人將分他的銀子。
18他建的房子像蛾繭，
像守望者搭的草棚。
19他睡前還是富翁，
醒來後財富已空。
20恐懼如洪水般淹沒他，
暴風在夜間把他捲去。
21東風把他颳走，
吹得無影無蹤。
22狂風27·22 「狂風」希伯來文指代不清，也可譯作「祂」，指上帝，23節同。毫不留情地擊打他，
他拼命地逃離風的威力。
23狂風向他拍掌，
呼嘯著吹走他。
