Job 32–37

Elihu Rebukes Job’s Friends

³²So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes.^{* 2}Then Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, became angry. He was angry at Job because he justified himself rather than God;^{* 3}he was angry also at Job’s three friends because they had found no answer, though they had declared Job to be in the wrong.^{j* 4}Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job because they were older than he. ⁵But when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouths of these three men, he became angry.

⁶Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite answered:

“I am young in years,

and you are aged;

therefore I was timid and afraid

to declare my opinion to you.^*

⁷I said, ‘Let days speak

and many years teach wisdom.’

⁸But truly it is the spirit in a mortal,

the breath of the Almighty^k that makes for understanding.^*

⁹It is not the old^l who are wise

nor the aged who understand what is right.^*

¹⁰Therefore I say, ‘Listen to me;

let me also declare my opinion.’

¹¹“See, I waited for your words;

I listened for your wise sayings

while you searched out what to say.^*

¹²I gave you my attention,

but there was, in fact, no one who confuted Job,

no one among you who answered his words.

¹³Yet do not say, ‘We have found wisdom;

God may vanquish him, not a human.’^*

¹⁴He has not directed his words against me,

and I will not answer him with your speeches.

¹⁵“They are dismayed; they answer no more;

they have not a word to say.

¹⁶And am I to wait because they do not speak,

because they stand there and answer no more?

¹⁷I also will give my answer;

I also will declare my opinion.

¹⁸For I am full of words;

the spirit within me constrains me.^*

¹⁹My belly is indeed like wine that has no vent;

like new wineskins, it is ready to burst.^*

²⁰I must speak, so that I may find relief;

I must open my lips and answer.

²¹I will not show partiality to any person

or use flattery toward anyone.^*

²²For I do not know how to flatter—

or my Maker would soon put an end to me!^*

Elihu Rebukes Job

³³“But now, hear my speech, O Job,

and listen to all my words.

²See, I open my mouth;

the tongue in my mouth speaks.

³My words declare the uprightness of my heart,

and what my lips know they speak sincerely.^*

⁴The spirit of God has made me,

and the breath of the Almighty^m gives me life.^*

⁵Answer me, if you can;

set your words in order before me; take your stand.^*

⁶See, before God I am as you are;

I, too, was formed from a piece of clay.

⁷No fear of me need terrify you;

my pressure will not be heavy on you.^*

⁸“Surely, you have spoken in my hearing,

and I have heard the sound of your words.

⁹You say, ‘I am clean, without transgression;

I am pure, and there is no iniquity in me.^*

¹⁰Look, he finds occasions against me;

he counts me as his enemy;^*

¹¹he puts my feet in the stocks

and watches all my paths.’^*

¹²“But in this you are not right. I will answer you:

God is greater than any mortal.

¹³Why do you contend against him,

saying, ‘He will answer none of myⁿ words’?^*

¹⁴For God speaks in one way

and in two, though people do not perceive it.^*

¹⁵In a dream, in a vision of the night,

when deep sleep falls on mortals,

while they slumber on their beds,^*

¹⁶then he opens their ears

and terrifies them with warnings,^*

¹⁷that he may turn them aside from their deeds

and keep them from pride,

¹⁸to spare their souls from the Pit,

their lives from traversing the River.

¹⁹They are also chastened with pain upon their beds

and with continual strife in their bones,^*

²⁰so that their lives loathe bread

and their appetites dainty food.^*

²¹Their flesh is so wasted away that it cannot be seen,

and their bones, once invisible, now stick out.^*

²²Their souls draw near the Pit

and their lives to those who bring death.^*

²³Then, if there should be for one of them an angel,

a mediator, one of a thousand,

one who declares a person upright,^*

²⁴and he is gracious to that person and says,

‘Deliver him from going down into the Pit;

I have found a ransom;^*

²⁵let his flesh become fresh with youth;

let him return to the days of his youthful vigor,’^*

²⁶then he prays to God and is accepted by him;

he comes into his presence with joy,

and God^o repays him for his righteousness.^*

²⁷That person sings to others and says,

‘I sinned and perverted what was right,

and it was not paid back to me.^*

²⁸He has redeemed my soul from going down to the Pit,

and my life shall see the light.’^*

²⁹“God indeed does all these things,

twice, three times, with mortals,^*

³⁰to bring back their souls from the Pit,

so that they may see the light of life.^p*

³¹Pay heed, Job, listen to me;

be silent, and I will speak.

³²If you have anything to say, answer me;

speak, for I desire to justify you.

³³If not, listen to me;

be silent, and I will teach you wisdom.”^*

Elihu Proclaims God’s Justice

³⁴Then Elihu continued and said:

²“Hear my words, you wise men,

and give ear to me, you who know,

³for the ear tests words

as the palate tastes food.^*

⁴Let us choose what is right;

let us determine among ourselves what is good.^*

⁵For Job has said, ‘I am innocent,

and God has taken away my right;

⁶in spite of being right I am counted a liar;

my wound is incurable, though I am without transgression.’^*

⁷Who is there like Job,

who drinks up scoffing like water,^*

⁸who goes in company with evildoers

and walks with the wicked?^*

⁹For he has said, ‘It profits one nothing

to take delight in God.’^*

¹⁰“Therefore, hear me, you who have sense;

far be it from God that he should do wickedness

and from the Almighty^q that he should do wrong.^*

¹¹For according to their deeds he will repay them,

and according to their ways he will make it befall them.^*

¹²Of a truth, God will not do wickedly,

and the Almighty^r will not pervert justice.^*

¹³Who gave him charge over the earth,

and who laid on him^s the whole world?^*

¹⁴If he should take back his spirit^t to himself

and gather to himself his breath,^*

¹⁵all flesh would perish together,

and all mortals return to dust.^*

¹⁶“If you have understanding, hear this;

listen to what I say.

¹⁷Shall one who hates justice govern?

Will you condemn one who is righteous and mighty,^*

¹⁸who says to a king, ‘You scoundrel!’

and to princes, ‘You wicked men!’;^*

¹⁹who shows no partiality to nobles,

nor regards the rich more than the poor,

for they are all the work of his hands?^*

²⁰In a moment they die;

at midnight the people are shaken and pass away,

and the mighty are taken away by no human hand.^*

²¹“For his eyes are upon the ways of mortals,

and he sees all their steps.^*

²²There is no gloom or deep darkness

where evildoers may hide themselves.^*

²³For he has not appointed a time^u for anyone

to go before God in judgment.

²⁴He shatters the mighty without investigation

and sets others in their place.^*

²⁵Thus, knowing their works,

he overturns them in the night, and they are crushed.^*

²⁶He strikes them for their wickedness

while others look on,^*

²⁷because they turned aside from following him

and had no regard for any of his ways,^*

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

and he heard the cry of the afflicted—^*

²⁹When he is quiet, who can condemn?

When he hides his face, who can behold him?

Whether nation or person, it is the same—^*

³⁰so that the godless should not reign

or those who ensnare the people.^*

³¹“For has anyone said to God,

‘I have endured punishment; I will not offend any more;

³²teach me what I do not see;

if I have done iniquity, I will do it no more’?^*

³³Will he then pay back to suit you

because you reject it?

For you must choose and not I;

therefore declare what you know.^v

³⁴Those who have sense will say to me,

and the wise who hear me will say,

³⁵‘Job speaks without knowledge;

his words are without insight.’^*

³⁶Would that Job were tried to the limit,

because his answers are those of the wicked.^*

³⁷For he adds rebellion to his sin;

he claps his hands among us

and multiplies his words against God.”

Elihu Condemns Self-Righteousness

³⁵Elihu continued and said:

²“Do you think this to be just?

You say, ‘I am in the right before God.’^*

³If you ask, ‘What advantage have I?

How am I better off than if I had sinned?’^*

⁴I will answer you

and your friends with you.

⁵Look at the heavens and see;

observe the clouds, which are higher than you.^*

⁶If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against him?

And if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to him?^*

⁷If you are righteous, what do you give to him,

or what does he receive from your hand?^*

⁸Your wickedness affects others like you,

and your righteousness, other human beings.

⁹“Because of the multitude of oppressions people cry out;

they call for help because of the arm of the mighty.^*

¹⁰But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker,

who gives strength in the night,^*

¹¹who teaches us more than the animals of the earth

and makes us wiser than the birds of the air?’^*

¹²There they cry out, but he does not answer,

because of the pride of evildoers.^*

¹³Surely God does not hear an empty cry,

nor does the Almighty^w regard it.^*

¹⁴How much less when you say that you do not see him,

that the case is before him and you are waiting for him!^*

¹⁵And now, because his anger does not punish

and he does not greatly heed transgression,^x*

¹⁶Job opens his mouth in empty talk;

he multiplies words without knowledge.”^*

Elihu Exalts God’s Goodness

³⁶Elihu continued and said:

²“Bear with me a little, and I will show you,

for I have yet something to say on God’s behalf.

³I will bring my knowledge from far away

and ascribe righteousness to my Maker.^*

⁴For truly my words are not false;

one who is perfect in knowledge is with you.^*

⁵“Surely God is mighty and does not despise any;

he is mighty in strength of understanding.^*

⁶He does not keep the wicked alive

but gives the afflicted their right.^*

⁷He does not withdraw his eyes from the righteous,

but with kings on the throne

he sets them forever, and they are exalted.^*

⁸And if they are bound in fetters

and caught in the cords of…