Thy Strong Word — Job 26-27: The Outskirts of Go

² “How you have helped him who has no power!
    How you have saved the arm that has no strength!
³ How you have counseled him who has no wisdom,
    and plentifully declared sound knowledge!
⁴ With whose help have you uttered words,
    and whose breath has come out from you?
⁵ The dead tremble
    under the waters and their inhabitants.
⁶ Sheol is naked before God,^[a]
    and Abaddon has no covering.
⁷ He stretches out the north over the void
    and hangs the earth on nothing.
⁸ He binds up the waters in his thick clouds,
    and the cloud is not split open under them.
⁹ He covers the face of the full moon^[b]
    and spreads over it his cloud.
¹⁰ He has inscribed a circle on the face of the waters
    at the boundary between light and darkness.
¹¹ The pillars of heaven tremble
    and are astounded at his rebuke.
¹² By his power he stilled the sea;
    by his understanding he shattered Rahab.
¹³ By his wind the heavens were made fair;
    his hand pierced the fleeing serpent.
¹⁴ Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways,
    and how small a whisper do we hear of him!
    But the thunder of his power who can understand?”

² “As God lives, who has taken away my right,
    and the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter,
³ as long as my breath is in me,
    and the spirit of God is in my nostrils,
⁴ my lips will not speak falsehood,
    and my tongue will not utter deceit.
⁵ Far be it from me to say that you are right;
    till I die I will not put away my integrity from me.
⁶ I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go;
    my heart does not reproach me for any of my days.

⁷ “Let my enemy be as the wicked,
    and let him who rises up against me be as the unrighteous.
⁸ For what is the hope of the godless when God cuts him off,
    when God takes away his life?
⁹ Will God hear his cry
    when distress comes upon him?
¹⁰ Will he take delight in the Almighty?
    Will he call upon God at all times?
¹¹ I will teach you concerning the hand of God;
    what is with the Almighty I will not conceal.
¹² Behold, all of you have seen it yourselves;
    why then have you become altogether vain?

¹³ “This is the portion of a wicked man with God,
    and the heritage that oppressors receive from the Almighty:
¹⁴ If his children are multiplied, it is for the sword,
    and his descendants have not enough bread.
¹⁵ Those who survive him the pestilence buries,
    and his widows do not weep.
¹⁶ Though he heap up silver like dust,
    and pile up clothing like clay,
¹⁷ he may pile it up, but the righteous will wear it,
    and the innocent will divide the silver.
¹⁸ He builds his house like a moth’s,
    like a booth that a watchman makes.
¹⁹ He goes to bed rich, but will do so no more;
    he opens his eyes, and his wealth is gone.
²⁰ Terrors overtake him like a flood;
    in the night a whirlwind carries him off.
²¹ The east wind lifts him up and he is gone;
    it sweeps him out of his place.
²² It^[c] hurls at him without pity;
    he flees from its^[d] power in headlong flight.
²³ It claps its hands at him
    and hisses at him from its place.