Job rejects Bildad’s argument

¹Then Job took up his topic again:

²As God lives, who rejected my legal claim,

³as long as breath is in me

⁴my lips will utter no wickedness;

⁵I will not agree that you are right.

Until my dying day, I won’t give up my integrity.

⁶I will insist on my innocence, never surrendering it;

my conscience will never blame me for what I have done.

Job curses his enemies

⁷Let my enemy be like the wicked,

my opposition like the vicious.

⁸For what hope has the godless when God cuts them off,

when he takes them away.

⁹Will God hear their cries

¹⁰will they delight in the Almighty,

Job’s view of his enemies’ fate

¹¹I will teach you God’s power,

not hide what pertains to the Almighty.

¹²Look, those of you who recognize this—

why then this empty talk?

¹³This is the wicked’s portion with God,

the inheritance that the ruthless receive from the Almighty.

¹⁴If their children increase, they belong to the sword;

their offspring won’t have enough bread.

¹⁵Their survivors will be buried with the dead;

their widows won’t weep.

¹⁶If they store up silver like dust,

amass clothing like clay,

¹⁷they may amass, but the righteous will wear it;

¹⁸They built their houses like nests,

like a hut made by a watchman.

¹⁹They lie down rich, but no longer;

open their eyes, but it’s missing.

²⁰Terrors overtake them like waters;

²¹an east wind lifts them, and they are gone,

²²throws itself on them without mercy;

²³It claps its hands over them,

hisses at them from their place.