Job 27:11–27:23, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Job 27:11–27:23
The Speech Repeats a Severe Portion for the Wicked
A severe lecture on the wicked's portion now arrives
The speaker offers to teach by the hand of God and not conceal what is with the Almighty. The portion of a wicked man with God is then described in the friends' own colors: children multiplied for the sword, offspring not satisfied with bread, those who remain buried by death, widows not weeping, silver heaped then lost, houses that do not stand, riches that fly, terror like waters, a tempest that steals him by night, an east wind that carries him away, men clapping their hands and hissing him out of his place.
The lines are so close to Zophar and Eliphaz that many readers hear a displaced friends' speech, Job quoting them to throw the portion back, or Job describing a destiny he still will not accept as his own.
Whoever speaks, the book has already broken the formula
Job 21 watched the wicked grow old and die in peace. The prologue watched an upright man lose children and wealth in a day. A vivid storm-death for the wicked cannot erase those scenes.
Do not use this unit to prove that Job finally joined the friends, or that every rich house must fall this way. Attribution remains honestly disputed. The moral danger is not the dispute. The danger is preaching the hiss as if it were God's last word on a living family.
How this should shape us
When a speech sounds like the friends and sits in Job's mouth, keep the book's counterexamples in view. Do not hiss anyone out of their place on the strength of a formula the narrative has already contradicted.
Teach it back
Explain Job 27:11–27:23 in your own words. Name the speaker, the unit's place in Job, one source-controlled textual or literary observation, one uncertainty, and one harmful use the passage does not authorize.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do responsible readings differ?
Best judgment: These lines resemble the friends' retribution teaching, and attribution or rhetorical function is disputed; they cannot erase the book's counterexamples or prove Job endorses every claim.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Job 27:11–27:23, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Job.xml, OSIS 27:11–27:23
Supports: Verse-level controls for Job's difficult Hebrew, syntax, older KJV language, textual issues, speech boundaries, and alternatives in Job 27:11–27:23.
Official NET Job PDF, exact translator, study, and textual notes attached to Job 27:11–27:23
Supports: Book-level and passage-level literary, historical, theological, and pastoral synthesis with speaker distinctions and visible uncertainty.
Enter the Bible Job course, Outline and passage studies: third-cycle breakdown; applied to Job 27:11–27:23
Supports: Ancient Greek textual and translation evidence where the Masoretic and Greek forms, wording, length, or attribution materially differ.
NETS Iob, introduction on the shorter Old Greek and exact Greek translation and notes for Iob 27:11–27:23
Supports: Polyphony, retribution critique, justice, Job's response, divine verdict, and the book's interpretive openness.
Ausloos, 'A Matter of Justice,' OTE 36.1 (2023), pp. 151-165, poetic dialogue, protest, retribution, and polyphony; applied to Job 27:11–27:23
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Job 27:11–27:23, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Job
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Job.xml, OSIS 27:11–27:23
Open the fixed Hebrew Job file ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible First Edition Notes: Job
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006; current official PDF
Supports: Verse-level controls for Job's difficult Hebrew, syntax, older KJV language, textual issues, speech boundaries, and alternatives in Job 27:11–27:23.
Exact location: Official NET Job PDF, exact translator, study, and textual notes attached to Job 27:11–27:23
Open the official NET Job PDF ↗modern scholarly book course
Job course: summary, outline, background, introductory issues, theological themes, and Bible in the world
Daniel J. Simundson and Kathryn Schifferdecker
Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, current online edition inspected 2026
Supports: Book-level and passage-level literary, historical, theological, and pastoral synthesis with speaker distinctions and visible uncertainty.
Exact location: Enter the Bible Job course, Outline and passage studies: third-cycle breakdown; applied to Job 27:11–27:23
Open the Enter the Bible Job course ↗ancient greek text translation and introduction
A New English Translation of the Septuagint: Iob
Claude E. Cox
International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies; Oxford University Press, 2009
Supports: Ancient Greek textual and translation evidence where the Masoretic and Greek forms, wording, length, or attribution materially differ.
Exact location: NETS Iob, introduction on the shorter Old Greek and exact Greek translation and notes for Iob 27:11–27:23
Open NETS Iob ↗peer reviewed open access literary and theological article
A Matter of Justice: The Openness of the Book of Job
Hans Ausloos
Old Testament Essays 36.1, 2023
Supports: Polyphony, retribution critique, justice, Job's response, divine verdict, and the book's interpretive openness.
Exact location: Ausloos, 'A Matter of Justice,' OTE 36.1 (2023), pp. 151-165, poetic dialogue, protest, retribution, and polyphony; applied to Job 27:11–27:23
Open Ausloos on Job and justice ↗