Job 34:16–30

¹⁶“If you have understanding, hear this;

listen to what I say.

¹⁷Shall one who hates justice govern?

Will you condemn him who is righteous and mighty,

¹⁸who says to a king, ‘Worthless one,’

and to nobles, ‘Wicked man’;

¹⁹who shows no partiality to princes,

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 a man,

and he sees all his steps.

²²There is no gloom or deep darkness

where evildoers may hide themselves.

²³For he has not appointed a time for any man

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

in the sight of men,

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 it be a nation or a man? —

³⁰that a godless man should not reign,

that he should not ensnare the people.