Job 34:16–30

¹⁶“But^h if you have understanding, hear this;

listen to what I say.ⁱ

¹⁷Shall he who hates justice really govern?

Or will you^j declare the Righteous One, the Mighty, guilty?—

¹⁸the one who says to a king,

‘You worthless man,’ to noblemen, ‘You wicked man,’

¹⁹who shows no partiality to officials^k

and who does not take note of the noble more than of the insignificant,^l

for all of them are the work of his hands?

²⁰In a moment they die,

and in the middle of the night the people are shaken, and they pass away,

and they take away the mighty effortlessly.^m

²¹“Indeed, his eyes are upon the ways of man,

and he sees all his steps.

²²There is no darkness, and there is no deep shadow

where instigators of mischief might hide themselves.

²³Indeed, he has not yet appointed a time for man

to go to God in the judgment.

²⁴He shatters the mighty without investigation,

and he sets others in their place.

²⁵Therefore he knows their works,

and he overturns them in the night

so thatⁿ they are crushed.

²⁶He strikes them where the wicked stood,^o

where there are onlookers,^p

²⁷because they have turned aside from him

and have not understood any of his ways,

²⁸so that they cause the cry of distress from the helpless to come to him,

and he hears the cry of distress from the needy,

²⁹but he remains quiet, and who can condemn?

And he hides his face, and who can behold him?

Yet^q he is over a nation and over a person alike,

³⁰so that godless human beings should not reign,

nor those who ensnare the people.