Job 27:7-23·~1 min

The Wicked Man’s Portion

Job says he would rather see his enemy classed with the wicked than himself, because when calamity falls the godless have no hope, no confident cry heard by God, and no delight in the Almighty. He promises to speak truly about God's power, since the friends have seen enough already and yet still speak emptily.

M⁷ay my enemy be like the wicked ⁸For what is the hope of the godless when he is cut off, ⁹Will God hear his cry ¹⁰Will he delight in the Almighty? ¹¹I will instruct you in the power of God. ¹²Surely all of you have seen it for yourselves.

Job declares this to be the wicked person's portion from God: children marked for the sword, survivors buried without lament, and wealth piled up only to be inherited by the righteous. Even the house the wicked builds is flimsy, like a moth's cocoon or a watchman's hut that does not last.

¹³This is the wicked man’s portion from God — ¹⁴Though his sons are many, they are destined for the sword; ¹⁵His survivors will be buried by the plague, ¹⁶Though he heaps up silver like dust ¹⁷what he lays up, the righteous will wear, ¹⁸The house he built is like a moth’s cocoon,

The wicked may lie down wealthy, but they do not keep that condition; terrors seize them like a flood, the east wind carries them away, and they flee from a force that strikes without pity. In the end there is clapping and hissing over their downfall, so the chapter closes with ruin both experienced and publicly recognized.

¹⁹He lies down wealthy, but will do so no more; ²⁰Terrors overtake him like a flood; ²¹The east wind carries him away, and he is gone; ²²It hurls itself against him without mercy ²³It claps its hands at him

Section summaryJob then turns toward the fate of the wicked, wishing that his enemy might share their end rather than his own condition. He argues that the godless person has no lasting hope, no real delight in the Almighty, and no secure future, for whatever wealth, children, or houses are amassed will finally be lost under judgment, terror, and public derision.

Role in the chapterThis closing section clarifies that Job is not denying judgment at all. Instead he is reclaiming the truth of judgment from the friends' misuse of it, showing that wickedness does have a portion from God even if Job's own suffering cannot be explained by that category.