Job · chapter 27 of 42
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In Job 27 Job swears by the living God that as long as he has breath his lips will not speak wickedness and that he will not agree with his friends or give up his integrity. He then describes the fate of the wicked: their children fall by the sword, their riches pass to others and terror overtakes them. The passage is surprising and is read in different ways.
After Bildad's last speech, Zophar does not speak in the third cycle and Job continues his discourse. Job 27 begins the last stretch of Job's defense, with a solemn declaration of integrity and an unexpected passage on the fate of the wicked that sounds almost like his friends. It is one of the most discussed passages in the book.
Job begins with an extraordinary oath: as God lives, who has taken away my right, and the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter. Though he accuses God, he swears that as long as he has breath his lips will not speak wickedness nor his tongue deceit (vv. 1-4).
Job refuses to grant that his friends are right. He will not give up his integrity until he dies. He holds fast to his righteousness and will not let it go, for his heart does not reproach him for any of his days. And he wishes his enemy to be treated as the wicked, for what hope has the godless when God takes away his life (vv. 5-8)?
Job then describes the fate of the wicked: God will not hear their cry; if they have many children, they are destined for the sword, and the survivors will not be mourned by their widows. They heap up silver like dust and clothing like clay, but the righteous will wear it and the innocent will divide the silver. Their house is like a moth's; they lie down rich and will not be so again; terrors overtake them like waters and the east wind carries them off (vv. 13-23). Many scholars see here a quotation of the friends, a reply of Job to show that he too believes in God's justice, or part of Zophar's lost speech.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Job swears by the living God, who has taken away his right and made his soul bitter, that his lips will not speak wickedness. It is a paradoxical oath: he swears by the very God he accuses, showing that his faith still stands even in complaint.
Job refuses to grant that his friends are right and says he will hold to his integrity until death. His heart does not reproach him. He is not claiming perfection but denying that he committed the sin that would explain his suffering.
Job asks what hope the godless has when God takes away his life. Here Job grants that the wicked have no secure future before God, though in chapter 21 he had said they often prosper while they live.
Job introduces what the wicked will inherit from God, a summary that echoes what the friends say. Many think Job is quoting their position to show he knows it, or expressing the final justice of God that he still believes in.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: By the living God, who has taken away his right, and the Almighty, who has made his soul bitter. — Job 27:2
Answer: That his lips will not speak wickedness and his tongue will not utter deceit. — Job 27:3-4
Answer: He refuses to grant that they are right and to give up his integrity until death. — Job 27:5
Answer: It does not reproach him for any of his days. — Job 27:6
Answer: However many they are, they are destined for the sword, and the survivors will not be mourned by their widows. — Job 27:14-15
Answer: Though they heap up silver and clothing, the righteous will wear the clothing and the innocent will divide the silver. — Job 27:16-17
Job 27 shows integrity that holds under pressure. His friends ask Job to confess something he did not do; he prefers to hold to the truth even though he does not understand God. In a small group this chapter encourages us not to fake guilt or peace we do not have, and to be honest with God, even in complaint.
But the chapter also warns against quick certainties. Its last part, hard to interpret, reminds us that poetic passages do not always give a simple answer. We read the whole book to understand: the ending will show that God does not explain himself to Job with a formula but with his presence.
Job 27 leaves Job firm in his integrity and confident that God judges the wicked, but without answers. In chapter 28 the voice of the book rises into a hymn to a wisdom that human effort cannot find.
It is a debated passage. Some think Job quotes his friends' arguments in order to refute them; others that it is Zophar's third speech, misplaced; others that Job affirms that in the end God judges the wicked, without that explaining his own case. The book does not clarify, so it is best presented with humility.
In the book of Job, swearing by the living God shows that Job never stops believing in God even when he feels unjustly treated. The Bible contains many laments of this kind, and God answers Job without rebuking him for complaining (Job 42:7).
No. He says his heart does not reproach him and that he holds to his integrity against his friends' accusations. In Job 42:6 he will humble himself before God, and in 40:4 he will admit he is small, which shows he does not claim moral perfection.