Chapter 34

1Elihu said in reply:

2Listen, O wise men, to my words;You who have knowledge, give ear to me.

3For the ear tests argumentsAs the palate tastes food.

4Let us decide for ourselves what is just;Let us know among ourselves what is good.

5For Job has said, “I am right;God has deprived me of justice.

6I declare the judgment against me false;My arrow-wound is deadly, though I am free from transgression.”

7What man is like Job,Who drinks mockery like water;

8Who makes common cause with evildoers,And goes with wicked men?

9For he says, “Man gains nothingWhen he is in God’s favor.”

10Therefore, men of understanding, listen to me;Wickedness be far from God,Wrongdoing, from Shaddai!

11For He pays a man according to his actions,And provides for him according to his conduct;

12For God surely does not act wickedly;Shaddai does not pervert justice.

13Who placed the earth in His charge?Who ordered the entire world?

14If He but intends it,He can call back His spirit and breath;

15All flesh would at once expire,And mankind return to dust.

16If you would understand, listen to this;Give ear to what I say.

17Would one who hates justice govern?Would you condemn the Just Mighty One?

18Would you call a king a scoundrel,Great men, wicked?

19He is not partial to princes;The noble are not preferred to the wretched;For all of them are the work of His hands.

20Some die suddenly in the middle of the night;People are in turmoil and pass on;Even great men are removed—not by human hands.

21For His eyes are upon a man’s ways;He observes his every step.

22Neither darkness nor gloom offersA hiding-place for evildoers.

23He has no set time for manTo appear before God in judgment.

24He shatters mighty men without numberAnd sets others in their place.

25Truly, He knows their deeds;Night is over, and they are crushed.

26He strikes them down with the wickedWhere people can see,

27Because they have been disloyal to HimAnd have not understood any of His ways;

28Thus He lets the cry of the poor come before Him;He listens to the cry of the needy.

29When He is silent, who will condemn?If He hides His face, who will see Him,Be it nation or man?

30The impious man rules no more,Nor do those who ensnare the people.

31Has he said to God,“I will bear [my punishment] and offend no more.

32What I cannot see You teach me.If I have done iniquity, I shall not do so again”?

33Should He requite as you see fit?But you have despised [Him]!You must decide, not I;Speak what you know.

34Men of understanding say to me,Wise men who hear me,

35“Job does not speak with knowledge;His words lack understanding.”

36Would that Job were tried to the limitFor answers which befit sinful men.

37He adds to his sin;He increases his transgression among us;He multiplies his statements against God.