Job 34
1 Moreover, Elihu continued to speak:
And Elihu made answer and said,
2 “Listen to my words, you wise men; hear me, you who have knowledge.
Give ear, you wise, to my words; and you who have knowledge, give attention to me;
3 For the ear tries words as the palate tastes food.
For words are tested by the ear, as food is tasted by the mouth.
4 Let us choose for ourselves what is just: let us discover among ourselves what is good.
Let us make the decision for ourselves as to what is right; let us have the knowledge among ourselves of what is good.
5 For Job has said, 'I am righteous, but God has taken away my rights.
For Job has said, I am upright, and it is God who has taken away my right;
6 Regardless of my rights, I am considered to be a liar. My wound is incurable, although I am without sin.'
Though I am right, still I am in pain; my wound may not be made well, though I have done no wrong.
7 What man is like Job, who drinks up mockery like water,
What man is like Job, a man who freely makes sport of God,
8 who goes around in the company of those who do evil, and who walks with wicked men?
And goes in the company of evil-doers, walking in the way of sinners?
9 For he has said, 'It is no use to a person to take pleasure in doing what God wants.'
For he has said, It is no profit to a man to take delight in God.
10 So listen to me, you men of understanding: far be it from God that he should do wickedness; far be it from the Almighty that he should commit sin.
Now then, you wise, take note; you men of knowledge, give ear to me. Let it be far from God to do evil, and from the Ruler of all to do wrong.
11 For he pays back a person's work; he makes every man come upon the reward of his own ways.
For he gives to every man the reward of his work, and sees that he gets the fruit of his ways.
12 Indeed, God does nothing wicked, nor does the Almighty ever pervert justice.
Truly, God does not do evil, and the Ruler of all is not a false judge.
13 Who put him in charge over the earth? Who put the whole world under him?
Who put the earth into his care, or made him responsible for the world?
14 If he ever set his intentions only on himself, and if he ever gathered back to himself his spirit and his breath,
If he made his spirit come back to him, taking his breath into himself again,
15 then all flesh would perish together; mankind would return to dust again.
All flesh would come to an end together, and man would go back to the dust.
16 If now you have understanding, listen to this; listen to the sound of my words.
If you are wise, take note of this; give ear to the voice of my words.
17 Can one who hates justice govern? Will you condemn God, who is righteous and mighty?
How may a hater of right be a ruler? and will you say that the upright Ruler of all is evil?
18 God, who says to a king, 'You are vile,' or says to nobles, 'You are wicked'?
He who says to a king, You are an evil-doer; and to rulers, You are sinners;
19 God, who does not show favoritism to leaders and does not acknowledge rich people more than poor, for they all are the work of his hands.
Who has no respect for rulers, and who gives no more attention to those who have wealth than to the poor, for they are all the work of his hands.
20 In a moment they will die; at midnight people will be shaken and will pass away; mighty people will be taken away, but not by human hands.
Suddenly they come to an end, even in the middle of the night: the blow comes on the men of wealth, and they are gone, and the strong are taken away without the hand of man.
21 For God's eyes are upon a person's ways; he sees all his steps.
For his eyes are on the ways of a man, and he sees all his steps.
22 There is no darkness, no thick gloom where the doers of iniquity may hide themselves.
There is no dark place, and no thick cloud, in which the workers of evil may take cover.
23 For God does not need to examine a person further; there is no need for any person to go before him in judgment.
For he does not give man a fixed time to come before him to be judged.
24 He breaks mighty men into pieces for their ways that need no further investigation; he puts others in their places.
He sends the strong to destruction without searching out their cause, and puts others in their place.
25 In this way he has knowledge of their deeds; he overthrows these people in the night; they are destroyed.
For he has knowledge of their works, overturning them in the night, so that they are crushed.
26 In the open sight of others, he kills them for their wicked deeds like criminals
The evil-doers are broken by his wrath, he puts his hand on them with force before the eyes of all onlookers.
27 because they turned away from following him and refused to acknowledge any of his ways.
Because they did not go after him, and took no note of his ways,
28 In this way, they made the cry of poor people come to him; he heard the cry of afflicted people.
So that the cry of the poor might come up to him, and the prayer of those in need come to his ears.
29 When he stays silent, who can condemn him? If he hides his face, who can perceive him? He rules over nation and individual alike,
30 so that a godless man may not rule, so that there may be no one to entrap people.
31 Suppose someone says to God, 'I am certainly guilty, but I will not sin any longer;
32 teach me what I cannot see; I have committed sin, but I will do it no longer.'
33 Do you think that God will punish that person's sin, since you dislike what God does? You must choose, not I. So say what it is that you know.
34 Men of understanding will say to me— indeed, every wise man who hears me will say,
Men of knowledge, and all wise men, hearing me, will say,
35 'Job speaks without knowledge; his words are without wisdom.'
Job's words do not come from knowledge; they are not the fruit of wisdom.
36 If only Job were put on trial in the smallest details of his case because of his talking like wicked men.
May Job be tested to the end, because his answers have been like those of evil men.
37 For he adds rebellion to his sin; he claps his hands in mockery in our midst; he piles up words against God.”
For in addition to his sin, he is uncontrolled in heart; before our eyes he makes sport of God, increasing his words against him.
