Job 34:16–30

¹⁶If now thou hast understanding, hear this:

Hearken to the voice of my words.

¹⁷Shall even one that hateth justice govern?

And wilt thou condemn him that is righteous and mighty?—

¹⁸Him that saith to a king, Thou art vile,

Or to nobles, Ye are wicked;

¹⁹That respecteth not the persons of princes,

Nor regardeth the rich more than the poor;

For they all are the work of his hands.

²⁰In a moment they die, even at midnight;

The people are shaken and pass away,

And the mighty are taken away without hand.

²¹For his eyes are upon the ways of a man,

And he seeth all his goings.

²²There is no darkness, nor thick gloom,

Where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.

²³For he needeth not further to consider a man,

That he should go before God in judgment.

²⁴He breaketh in pieces mighty men in ways past finding out,

And setteth others in their stead.

²⁵Therefore he taketh knowledge of their works;

And he overturneth them in the night, so that they are destroyed.

²⁶He striketh them as wicked men

In the open sight of others;

²⁷Because they turned aside from following him,

And would not have regard in any of his ways:

²⁸So that they caused the cry of the poor to come unto him,

And he heard the cry of the afflicted.

²⁹When he giveth quietness, who then can condemn?

And when he hideth his face, who then can behold him?

Alike whether it be done unto a nation, or unto a man:

³⁰That the godless man reign not,

That there be none to ensnare the people.