[1] Job continued speaking:
[2] “I vow by the living God, who has taken away my rights, by the Almighty who has embittered my soul—
[3] As long as I live, while I have breath from God,
[4] my lips will speak no evil, and my tongue will speak no lies.
[5] I will never concede that you are right; I will defend my integrity until I die.
[6] I will maintain my innocence without wavering. My conscience is clear for as long as I live.
[7] “May my enemy be punished like the wicked, my adversary like those who do evil.
[8] For what hope do the godless have when God cuts them off and takes away their life?
[9] Will God listen to their cry when trouble comes upon them?
[10] Can they take delight in the Almighty? Can they call to God at any time?
[11] I will teach you about God’s power. I will not conceal anything concerning the Almighty.
[12] But you have seen all this, yet you say all these useless things to me.
[13] “This is what the wicked will receive from God; this is their inheritance from the Almighty.
[14] They may have many children, but the children will die in war or starve to death.
[15] Those who survive will die of a plague, and not even their widows will mourn them.
[16] “Evil people may have piles of money and may store away mounds of clothing.
[17] But the righteous will wear that clothing, and the innocent will divide that money.
[18] The wicked build houses as fragile as a spider’s web, as flimsy as a shelter made of branches.
[19] The wicked go to bed rich but wake to find that all their wealth is gone.
[20] Terror overwhelms them like a flood, and they are blown away in the storms of the night.
[21] The east wind carries them away, and they are gone. It sweeps them away.
[22] It whirls down on them without mercy. They struggle to flee from its power.
[23] But everyone jeers at them and mocks them.