Job 34–35

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.”^*