Job 27 explained: Job Refuses to Confess a Lie

Job swears an oath (vv. 1-6)

Job swears by God's own life, even while saying that this same God has denied him justice and made his life bitter. He refuses to agree with his friends that his suffering proves he is guilty, because saying so would be lying against his own conscience.

No hope for the godless (vv. 7-10)

"May my enemy be like the wicked" is read two ways: as a wish that his worst enemy meet the worst fate there is, or as saying that anyone who opposes Job's claim of innocence deserves to be counted wicked. Either way, Job agrees the godless have no real hope and do not keep calling on God in trouble, which hints at a contrast with himself, since he still does.

Turning the lesson around (vv. 11-12)

Job offers to teach his friends about how God acts, pointing out that they have seen these things too. So why, he asks, do they keep making empty arguments against him?

What the wicked inherit (vv. 13-17)

These verses sound much like the friends' own speeches, so scholars are unsure whether Job is granting their point or whether this is a misplaced speech by Zophar, the one friend who gets no third turn. The picture is of a ruthless man whose children die by war, hunger and disease, and whose hoarded silver and fine clothes, a common form of wealth then, end up with innocent people.

Swept away overnight (vv. 18-23)

His house is as flimsy as a moth's cocoon or the rough shelter a vineyard guard puts up for the season, and his riches can vanish in a single night. A fierce desert wind sweeps him off, though translations differ on whether it is the wind, God or onlookers who hurl at him and clap and hiss him away in scorn.

Key verse: Job 27:6

Where Christians differ

Christians differ on whether Job's oath is admirable honesty before God or crosses a line by accusing God of injustice, something a later speaker in the book rebukes him for.

Something to think about

Is there a point where refusing to admit a fault you do not believe you have turns into stubbornness, and how would you tell the difference?