LEB - Job - 34

34:1  Thus Elihu ⌞spoke up⌟ and said,

34:2  “Hear my words, you wise men, and listen to me, you who know,

34:3  for the ear tests words, and the palate tastes ⌞food⌟.

34:4  Let us choose justice for ourselves; let us determine among ourselves what is good—

34:5  for Job has said, ‘I am righteous, but God has taken away my justice.

34:6  Should I lie concerning my justice? Though I am without transgression, my wound caused by an arrow is incurable.’

34:7  What man is like Job, who drinks scorn like water?

34:8  And he goes on the road in company with instigators of mischief, and walks with men of wickedness.

34:9  Indeed, he says, ‘A man does not profit when he takes delight in God.’

34:10  “Therefore, listen to me, ⌞people who have sense⌟: far be it from God ⌞that he should commit wickedness⌟ and that Shaddai ⌞should do wrong⌟.

34:11  Indeed, he will repay according to a human being’s deeds, and according to a man’s way he will let it happen to him.

34:12  What’s more, God truly does not act wickedly, and Shaddai does not pervert justice.

34:13  Who gave him charge over the earth? Or who laid on him the whole world?

34:14  If he should set his heart to it, and he should gather his spirit and his breath to himself,

34:15  all flesh would perish together, and humankind would return to dust.

34:16  “But if you have understanding, hear this; listen to ⌞what I say⌟.

34:17  Shall he who hates justice really govern? Or will you declare the Righteous One, the Mighty, guilty?—

34:18  the one who says to a king, ‘You worthless man,’ to noblemen, ‘You wicked man,’

34:19  who ⌞shows no partiality to officials⌟ and who ⌞does not take note of the noble more than of the insignificant⌟, for all of them are the work of his hands?

34:20  In 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⌟.

34:21  “Indeed, his eyes are upon the ways of man, and he sees all his steps.

34:22  There is no darkness, and there is no deep shadow where instigators of mischief might hide themselves.

34:23  Indeed, he has not yet appointed a time for man to go to God in the judgment.

34:24  He shatters the mighty without investigation, and he sets others in their place.

34:25  Therefore he knows their works, and he overturns them in the night ⌞so that⌟ they are crushed.

34:26  He strikes them ⌞where the wicked stood⌟, ⌞where there are onlookers⌟,

34:27  because they have turned aside from him and have not understood any of his ways,

34:28  so that they cause the cry of distress from the helpless to come to him, and he hears the cry of distress from the needy,

34:29  but he remains quiet, and who can condemn? And he hides his face, and who can behold him? Yet he is over a nation and over a person alike,

34:30  so that godless human beings should not reign, nor those who ensnare the people.

34:31  “Indeed, does anyone say to God, ‘I have endured chastisement; I will not act corruptly again;

34:32  teach me yourself ⌞what I cannot see⌟; if I have done wrong, I will not repeat it’?

34:33  ⌞According to your judgment⌟, must he repay it because you rejected this? Indeed, you must choose, and not I, so declare what you know.

34:34  ⌞Those who have sense⌟ say to me, and the wise man hearing me says:

34:35  ‘Job speaks without knowledge, and his words are without insight.

34:36  Would that Job were tested up to the end because his answers are like those from men of mischief,

34:37  for he adds transgression to his sin; he claps hands among us, and he multiplies his words against God.’ ”