Job 27:15-23

15 They, that be residue of him, shall be buried in perishing; and the widows of him shall not weep. (They, who be left of him, shall die from disease; and their widows shall not weep for them.)
16 If he gathereth together silver as earth, and maketh ready clothes as (the) clay; (Yea, though he gathereth together silver like dust, and getteth himself heaps of clothes;)
17 soothly he made these things ready, but a just man shall be clothed in those things, and an innocent man shall part the silver. (truly he got these things, but the righteous shall be clothed in them, and the innocent shall divide, or shall share, the silver.)
18 As a moth he hath builded his house, and as a keeper he made a shadowing place. (Like a moth, he hath built his house, and he hath made his place of shade like a watchman.)
19 A rich man, when he shall die, shall bear nothing with him; he shall open his eyes, and he shall find nothing.
20 Poverty as water shall take him (Poverty shall overtake him like a flood); and (a) tempest shall oppress him in the night.
21 Burning wind shall take him (up), and it shall do him away; and as a whirlwind it shall ravish him from his place (and like a whirlwind it shall snatch him away from his place).
22 The Lord shall send out (these) torments upon him, and shall not spare; (and) he fleeing shall flee from his hand.
23 He shall constrain his hands on him, and he shall hiss on him, and shall behold his place. (The wind shall clap its hands at him, and shall hiss at him, wherever he may go.)

Job 27:15-23 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JOB 27

Though Job's friends were become silent, and dropped the controversy with him, he still continued his discourse in this and the four following chapters; in which he asserts his integrity; illustrates and confirms his former sentiments; gives further proof of his knowledge of things, natural and divine; takes notice of his former state of prosperity, and of his present distresses and afflictions, which came upon him, notwithstanding his piety, humanity, and beneficence, and his freedom from the grosser acts of sin, both with respect to God and men, all which he enlarges upon. In this chapter he gives his word and oath for it, that he would never belie himself, and own that he was an hypocrite, when he was not, but would continue to assert his integrity, and the righteousness of his cause, as long as he lived, Job 27:1-6; for to be an hypocrite, and to attempt to conceal his hypocrisy, would be of no advantage to him, either in life, or in death, Job 27:7-10; and was this his character and case, upon their principles, he could expect no other than to be a miserable man, as wicked men are, who have their blessings turned into curses, or taken away from them, and they removed out of the world in the most awful and terrible manner, and under manifest tokens of the wrath and displeasure of God, Job 27:11-23.

Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.