• I Hold Fast My Righteousness

  • 1 Then Job continued to lift up his discourse and said,
  • 2 “As God lives, who has removed my justice, And the Almighty, who has embittered my soul,
  • 3 For as long as breath is in me, And the spirit from God is in my nostrils,
  • 4 My lips certainly will not speak unrighteousness, Nor will my tongue utter deceit.
  • 5 “Far be it from me that I should declare you right; Till I breathe my last I will not remove my integrity from me.
  • 6 “I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go. My heart does not reproach any of my days.
  • 7 “May my enemy be as the wicked And the one who rises against me as the unjust.
  • 8 “For what is the hope of the godless when he is cut off, When God requires his soul?
  • 9 “Will God hear his cry When distress comes upon him?
  • 10 “Will he take delight in the Almighty? Will he call on God at all times?
  • 11 “I will instruct you in the power of God; What is with the Almighty I will not conceal.
  • 12 “Behold, all of you have seen it; Why then do you speak with utter vanity?
  • 13 “This is the portion of a wicked man from God, And the inheritance which the ruthless receive from the Almighty.
  • 14 “Though his sons are many, they are destined for the sword; And his offspring will not be satisfied with bread.
  • 15 “His survivors will be buried because of the plague, And their widows will not be able to weep.
  • 16 “Though he piles up silver like dust And prepares garments as plentiful as the clay,
  • 17 He may prepare it, but the righteous will wear it, And the innocent will divide the silver.
  • 18 “He has built his house like the moth, Or as a hut which the watchman has made.
  • 19 “He lies down rich, but never again; He opens his eyes, and it is no longer.
  • 20 “Terrors overtake him like many waters; A tempest steals him away in the night.
  • 21 “The east wind carries him away, and he goes, And it whirls him away from his place.
  • 22 “For it will hurl at him without sparing; He will surely try to flee from its power.
  • 23 “Men will clap their hands at him And will hiss him from his place.