Job 27 Study Notes: Job Holds Fast to His Integrity
Job swears by the living God that he will never admit his friends are right or give up his innocence while he has breath. He then asks what hope the godless have before God and describes how the wicked lose their children, their wealth and their lives in sudden ruin.
General
In 27:11-12, what does Job say he will teach his friends, and how does he describe their speeches?
Answer: About God’s power and ways; he calls their speeches useless and vain
Job turns to his friends and says he will teach them about God’s might and will not hide how the Almighty works (27:11). They have all seen these things for themselves, he says, so why do they keep up such empty talk (27:12)? Job does not think the friends are ignorant of God’s greatness. His complaint is that they have used true ideas about God in a false way, as if Job’s suffering proved he was wicked. He had already said they tried to comfort him with empty words and that their answers were full of falsehood (21:34) and called them worthless physicians (13:4). The LORD later confirms that the friends did not speak about Him accurately (42:7).
- Job 27:11-12 (BSB)“I will instruct you in the power of God. I will not conceal the ways of the Almighty. Surely all of you have seen it for yourselves. Why then do you keep up this empty talk?”Job says he will teach the friends about God’s power and asks why they keep speaking emptily.
- Job 21:34 (BSB)“So how can you comfort me with empty words? For your answers remain full of falsehood.””Job had already said the friends comforted him with empty words and answered him with falsehood.
- Job 13:4 (BSB)“You, however, smear with lies; you are all worthless physicians.”Job had called the friends worthless physicians.
- Job 42:7 (BSB)“After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, He said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and your two friends. For you have not spoken about Me accurately, as My servant Job has.”The LORD later says the friends did not speak about Him accurately.
Theological
What does Job undertake to teach the friends in 27:11-12, and how does he characterize their discourse?
Answer: About God’s power and ways; he calls their speeches useless and vain
Job announces that he will instruct the friends concerning God’s power and will keep nothing back about the Almighty’s dealings (27:11), then protests that since they have all seen these things, their persistent speech is vain (27:12). The issue is not their ignorance of divine power but their misuse of it, deploying sound premises about God to reach a false verdict on Job. The charge continues his earlier verdicts that their consolations were empty and false (21:34) and that they were worthless physicians (13:4), and it is borne out by the LORD’s judgment that the friends did not speak rightly of Him (42:7).
- Job 27:11-12 (BSB)“I will instruct you in the power of God. I will not conceal the ways of the Almighty. Surely all of you have seen it for yourselves. Why then do you keep up this empty talk?”Job says he will teach the friends about God’s power and asks why they keep speaking emptily.
- Job 21:34 (BSB)“So how can you comfort me with empty words? For your answers remain full of falsehood.””Job had already said the friends comforted him with empty words and answered him with falsehood.
- Job 13:4 (BSB)“You, however, smear with lies; you are all worthless physicians.”Job had called the friends worthless physicians.
- Job 42:7 (BSB)“After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, He said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and your two friends. For you have not spoken about Me accurately, as My servant Job has.”The LORD later says the friends did not speak about Him accurately.
General
After wishing that his enemy would share the fate of the wicked (27:7), what does Job ask about the godless man in 27:8-10?
Answer: What hope he has at death, and whether God will listen to his cries
Job wishes that whoever opposes him would be treated like the wicked (27:7). Then he asks what hope a godless man has when his life is cut off and God takes it away (27:8). Will God hear him when trouble comes? Will he find joy in the Almighty and keep praying to God continually (27:9-10)? The questions expect the answer no. A person who has lived without God has nothing to hold on to when death comes. Proverbs says the LORD keeps His distance from the wicked, yet listens when the righteous pray (Proverbs 15:29), and Jesus asks what good it does to gain the whole world and lose one’s soul (Matthew 16:26). Job agrees with the friends that the godless have no hope, but he denies that he is godless. He had said that no godless person could come before God, which is exactly why he still seeks to stand before Him (13:16).
- Job 27:8-10 (BSB)“For what is the hope of the godless when he is cut off, when God takes away his life? Will God hear his cry when distress comes upon him? Will he delight in the Almighty? Will he call upon God at all times?”Job asks what hope the godless man has when God takes his life, and whether God will hear him.
- Proverbs 15:29 (BSB)“The LORD is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayer of the righteous.”The LORD is far from the wicked but hears the prayer of the righteous.
- Matthew 16:26 (BSB)“What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?”Jesus asks what a man gains if he wins the whole world but loses his soul.
- Job 13:16 (BSB)“Moreover, this will be my salvation, for no godless man can appear before Him.”Job had said that no godless man can appear before God, which is why he dares to seek Him.
Theological
What does Job ask concerning the godless man in 27:8-10?
Answer: What hope he has at death, and whether God will listen to his cries
Having wished his adversary the lot of the wicked (27:7), Job asks what hope remains for the godless when God cuts him off and requires his life (27:8), whether God will hear his cry in distress, and whether such a man will find joy in the Almighty and call on Him continually (27:9-10). The rhetorical questions underline that the godless have no communion with God to sustain them at death: the LORD stands distant from the wicked yet listens to the righteous (Proverbs 15:29), and no gain can compensate for the loss of the soul (Matthew 16:26). Job shares the friends’ premise that the godless are without hope but rejects its application to himself; his very readiness to appear before God is, he had argued, a sign that he is not godless (13:16).
- Job 27:8-10 (BSB)“For what is the hope of the godless when he is cut off, when God takes away his life? Will God hear his cry when distress comes upon him? Will he delight in the Almighty? Will he call upon God at all times?”Job asks what hope the godless man has when God takes his life, and whether God will hear him.
- Proverbs 15:29 (BSB)“The LORD is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayer of the righteous.”The LORD is far from the wicked but hears the prayer of the righteous.
- Matthew 16:26 (BSB)“What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?”Jesus asks what a man gains if he wins the whole world but loses his soul.
- Job 13:16 (BSB)“Moreover, this will be my salvation, for no godless man can appear before Him.”Job had said that no godless man can appear before God, which is why he dares to seek Him.
General
True or False: In 27:2 Job swears his oath by the life of God, the same God he says has withheld justice from him and made his soul bitter.
Answer: True
This is true. In one breath Job swears by God’s life and complains that God has taken away his right and made his soul bitter (27:2). The complaint is honest and painful, but Job does not turn away from God. He still appeals to God as the living One and the final judge, much as he had said earlier that even if God killed him he would hope in Him (13:15). His words also went too far at points. When the LORD answers him, He asks whether Job would set aside God’s justice and condemn God in order to prove himself right (40:8). Yet the LORD also says that Job spoke about Him accurately, unlike the three friends (42:7).
- Job 27:2 (BSB)““As surely as God lives, who has deprived me of justice—the Almighty, who has embittered my soul—”Job swears by the life of God, whom he says has taken away his justice and embittered his soul.
- Job 13:15 (BSB)“Though He slay me, I will hope in Him. I will still defend my ways to His face.”Job had already said that even if God slew him, he would still hope in Him.
- Job 40:8 (BSB)“Would you really annul My justice? Would you condemn Me to justify yourself?”The LORD later asks whether Job would condemn Him in order to justify himself.
- Job 42:7 (BSB)“After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, He said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and your two friends. For you have not spoken about Me accurately, as My servant Job has.”The LORD still says Job spoke about Him accurately, unlike the friends.
Theological
True or False: Job’s oath in 27:2 is sworn by the life of the very God he accuses of withholding justice from him and embittering his soul.
Answer: True
This is true. Job’s oath holds together a protest and a profession: he invokes the living God as guarantor of his truthfulness while charging that same God with removing his right and embittering his soul (27:2). The tension is characteristic of his speeches, in which he never abandons God but appeals past his suffering to Him, as in his resolve to hope in God even if God should slay him (13:15). The LORD’s reply exposes the excess in such language, asking whether Job would annul divine justice and condemn God to justify himself (40:8), while still affirming that Job, unlike the friends, spoke rightly of Him (42:7).
- Job 27:2 (BSB)““As surely as God lives, who has deprived me of justice—the Almighty, who has embittered my soul—”Job swears by the life of God, whom he says has taken away his justice and embittered his soul.
- Job 13:15 (BSB)“Though He slay me, I will hope in Him. I will still defend my ways to His face.”Job had already said that even if God slew him, he would still hope in Him.
- Job 40:8 (BSB)“Would you really annul My justice? Would you condemn Me to justify yourself?”The LORD later asks whether Job would condemn Him in order to justify himself.
- Job 42:7 (BSB)“After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, He said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and your two friends. For you have not spoken about Me accurately, as My servant Job has.”The LORD still says Job spoke about Him accurately, unlike the friends.
General
In 27:2-6 Job makes a solemn oath by the life of God. What does he vow to do?
Answer: Hold to his innocence and never concede that the friends are correct
Job begins this part of his speech with an oath, swearing by the fact that God lives (27:2). As long as he has breath, he says, he will not say anything wicked or false (27:3-4). He refuses ever to grant that his friends are correct, and he will keep his integrity, meaning his honest and blameless way of life, until he dies (27:5). He will hold fast to his righteousness, and his conscience will not condemn him (27:6). Job is not claiming that he has never sinned. He is refusing to confess sins the friends have invented to explain his suffering. The LORD had already said that Job still held to his integrity (2:3), and Job kept it when his wife then urged him to give it up and curse God (2:9). At the end of the book the LORD says the friends did not speak about Him accurately, as Job did (42:7).
- Job 27:2-6 (BSB)““As surely as God lives, who has deprived me of justice—the Almighty, who has embittered my soul— as long as my breath is still within me and the breath of God remains in my nostrils, my lips will not speak wickedness, and my tongue will not utter deceit. I will never say that you are right; I will maintain my integrity until I die. I will cling to my righteousness and never let go. As long as I live, my conscience will not accuse me.”Job swears by God’s life that he will not speak falsely or give up his integrity.
- Job 2:3 (BSB)“Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one on earth like him, a man who is blameless and upright, who fears God and shuns evil. He still retains his integrity, even though you incited Me against him to ruin him without cause.””The LORD Himself said Job still held to his integrity after his first losses.
- Job 2:9 (BSB)“Then Job’s wife said to him, “Do you still retain your integrity? Curse God and die!””Job’s wife had urged him to give up his integrity and curse God.
- Job 42:7 (BSB)“After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, He said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and your two friends. For you have not spoken about Me accurately, as My servant Job has.”The LORD later says the friends did not speak about Him accurately, as Job did.
Theological
What does Job bind himself to in the oath of 27:2-6?
Answer: Hold to his innocence and never concede that the friends are correct
Job swears by the living God (27:2) that while breath remains in him his lips will utter neither wickedness nor deceit (27:3-4). He refuses to concede the friends’ case, resolves to keep his integrity until death (27:5), and declares that he will cling to his righteousness with a conscience that does not reproach him (27:6). This is not a claim to sinless perfection but a refusal to confess fabricated guilt in order to satisfy the friends’ theology of retribution. The book’s opening and closing scenes support the stance: the LORD Himself affirmed that Job still held fast his integrity (2:3), the very integrity his wife urged him to abandon (2:9), and the LORD’s closing verdict is that the friends had not spoken about Him accurately, as Job had (42:7).
- Job 27:2-6 (BSB)““As surely as God lives, who has deprived me of justice—the Almighty, who has embittered my soul— as long as my breath is still within me and the breath of God remains in my nostrils, my lips will not speak wickedness, and my tongue will not utter deceit. I will never say that you are right; I will maintain my integrity until I die. I will cling to my righteousness and never let go. As long as I live, my conscience will not accuse me.”Job swears by God’s life that he will not speak falsely or give up his integrity.
- Job 2:3 (BSB)“Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one on earth like him, a man who is blameless and upright, who fears God and shuns evil. He still retains his integrity, even though you incited Me against him to ruin him without cause.””The LORD Himself said Job still held to his integrity after his first losses.
- Job 2:9 (BSB)“Then Job’s wife said to him, “Do you still retain your integrity? Curse God and die!””Job’s wife had urged him to give up his integrity and curse God.
- Job 42:7 (BSB)“After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, He said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and your two friends. For you have not spoken about Me accurately, as My servant Job has.”The LORD later says the friends did not speak about Him accurately, as Job did.
General
According to 27:16-17, what happens to the silver and clothing that the wicked man piles up?
Answer: They pass to the righteous and the innocent, who share them out
From 27:13 Job describes the portion God gives the wicked. The first half of that line matches word for word the first half of the closing line of Zophar’s second speech (20:29). The wicked man may have many sons, but they face the sword and hunger (27:14-15). He may heap up silver as common as dust and clothing like heaps of clay, but the righteous will end up wearing the clothes and the innocent will divide the silver (27:16-17). Proverbs makes the same point: what the sinner owns ends up with the righteous (Proverbs 13:22), and Ecclesiastes says the sinner gathers what he must give up to a person God is pleased with (Ecclesiastes 2:26). Readers differ on whether in 27:13-23 Job is granting part of the friends’ case or setting out what he himself holds about the end God brings on the wicked.
- Job 27:13 (BSB)“This is the wicked man’s portion from God—the heritage the ruthless receive from the Almighty.”Job introduces the portion God assigns to the wicked.
- Job 27:16-17 (BSB)“Though he heaps up silver like dust and piles up a wardrobe like clay, what he lays up, the righteous will wear, and his silver will be divided by the innocent.”The wicked man’s silver and clothing end up with the righteous and the innocent.
- Job 20:29 (BSB)“This is the wicked man’s portion from God, the inheritance God has appointed him.””Zophar had closed his second speech with a line whose first half is identical to Job’s opening line in 27:13.
- Proverbs 13:22 (BSB)“A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the sinner’s wealth is passed to the righteous.”Proverbs says the sinner’s wealth is passed to the righteous.
- Ecclesiastes 2:26 (BSB)“To the man who is pleasing in His sight, He gives wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner He assigns the task of gathering and accumulating that which he will hand over to one who pleases God. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.”The sinner gathers and stores up what he will hand over to one who pleases God.
Theological
What becomes of the wicked man’s hoarded silver and garments according to 27:16-17?
Answer: They pass to the righteous and the innocent, who share them out
Job’s account of the wicked man’s allotment from God (27:13) opens with words that repeat exactly the first half of the closing line of Zophar’s second speech, though the second half differs (20:29). His many sons face violent death and his descendants hunger (27:14-15), and though he amasses silver and garments in heaps, the clothing will be worn by the righteous and the innocent will divide the silver (27:16-17). The transfer matches the teaching of Proverbs that what the sinner owns is laid up for the righteous (Proverbs 13:22) and of Ecclesiastes that God makes the sinner gather and store for one who pleases Him (Ecclesiastes 2:26). Readers differ on whether in 27:13-23 Job concedes part of the friends’ argument or sets out his own conviction about the end God appoints for the wicked.
- Job 27:13 (BSB)“This is the wicked man’s portion from God—the heritage the ruthless receive from the Almighty.”Job introduces the portion God assigns to the wicked.
- Job 27:16-17 (BSB)“Though he heaps up silver like dust and piles up a wardrobe like clay, what he lays up, the righteous will wear, and his silver will be divided by the innocent.”The wicked man’s silver and clothing end up with the righteous and the innocent.
- Job 20:29 (BSB)“This is the wicked man’s portion from God, the inheritance God has appointed him.””Zophar had closed his second speech with a line whose first half is identical to Job’s opening line in 27:13.
- Proverbs 13:22 (BSB)“A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the sinner’s wealth is passed to the righteous.”Proverbs says the sinner’s wealth is passed to the righteous.
- Ecclesiastes 2:26 (BSB)“To the man who is pleasing in His sight, He gives wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner He assigns the task of gathering and accumulating that which he will hand over to one who pleases God. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.”The sinner gathers and stores up what he will hand over to one who pleases God.
General
Which picture does Job use in 27:18-23 for the sudden end of the wicked man?
Answer: A storm wind in the night that carries him off from his home
The wicked man’s house is as fragile as a moth’s cocoon or a watchman’s shelter (27:18). He goes to bed rich, but when he wakes everything is gone (27:19). Terrors pour over him like floodwaters, and a storm snatches him off by night (27:20). The east wind lifts him and carries him off from where he lived, hurling itself at him without pity while he tries to escape, and in the end it claps and hisses at him as he goes (27:21-23). The point is how sudden and complete his ruin is. Other passages use similar pictures. Asaph says the wicked are suddenly carried off by dread (Psalm 73:18-19), Psalm 1 compares them to chaff the wind drives away (Psalm 1:4), and Proverbs says that once the storm has gone by, nothing remains of the wicked (Proverbs 10:25).
- Job 27:18-23 (BSB)“The house he built is like a moth’s cocoon, like a hut set up by a watchman. He lies down wealthy, but will do so no more; when he opens his eyes, all is gone. Terrors overtake him like a flood; a tempest sweeps him away in the night. The east wind carries him away, and he is gone; it sweeps him out of his place. It hurls itself against him without mercy as he flees headlong from its power. It claps its hands at him and hisses him out of his place.”The wicked man’s house is flimsy, his wealth vanishes overnight, and the east wind sweeps him away.
- Psalm 73:18-19 (BSB)“Surely You set them on slick ground; You cast them down into ruin. How suddenly they are laid waste, completely swept away by terrors!”Asaph says God casts the wicked down and they are suddenly swept away by terrors.
- Psalm 1:4 (BSB)“Not so the wicked! For they are like chaff driven off by the wind.”The wicked are like chaff that the wind drives away.
- Proverbs 10:25 (BSB)“When the whirlwind passes, the wicked are no more, but the righteous are secure forever.”When the whirlwind passes, the wicked are no more.
Theological
What image governs Job’s description of the wicked man’s end in 27:18-23?
Answer: A storm wind in the night that carries him off from his home
The wicked man’s house is as insubstantial as a moth’s cocoon or a watchman’s booth (27:18); he lies down rich and wakes to find all gone (27:19). Dread engulfs him like floodwaters and a tempest carries him off by night (27:20), as the east wind sweeps him from his place, buffets him pitilessly in his flight, and mocks his departure (27:21-23). The emphasis falls on the suddenness and finality of judgment, a theme shared with Asaph’s confession that the wicked are ruined in a moment by sudden dread (Psalm 73:18-19), with the chaff driven by the wind (Psalm 1:4), and with the proverb that the wicked vanish once the storm has gone by (Proverbs 10:25).
- Job 27:18-23 (BSB)“The house he built is like a moth’s cocoon, like a hut set up by a watchman. He lies down wealthy, but will do so no more; when he opens his eyes, all is gone. Terrors overtake him like a flood; a tempest sweeps him away in the night. The east wind carries him away, and he is gone; it sweeps him out of his place. It hurls itself against him without mercy as he flees headlong from its power. It claps its hands at him and hisses him out of his place.”The wicked man’s house is flimsy, his wealth vanishes overnight, and the east wind sweeps him away.
- Psalm 73:18-19 (BSB)“Surely You set them on slick ground; You cast them down into ruin. How suddenly they are laid waste, completely swept away by terrors!”Asaph says God casts the wicked down and they are suddenly swept away by terrors.
- Psalm 1:4 (BSB)“Not so the wicked! For they are like chaff driven off by the wind.”The wicked are like chaff that the wind drives away.
- Proverbs 10:25 (BSB)“When the whirlwind passes, the wicked are no more, but the righteous are secure forever.”When the whirlwind passes, the wicked are no more.