Job 34:1 ←
Moreover Elihu answered,
Job 34:2 ←
“Hear my words, you wise men. Give ear to me, you who have knowledge.
Job 34:3 ←
For the ear tries words, as the palate tastes food.
Job 34:4 ←
Let us choose for us that which is right. Let us know among ourselves what is good.
Job 34:5 ←
For Job has said, ‘I am righteous, God has taken away my right.
Job 34:6 ←
Notwithstanding my right I am considered a liar. My wound is incurable, though I am without disobedience.’
Job 34:7 ←
What man is like Job, who drinks scorn like water,
Job 34:8 ←
who goes in company with the workers of iniquity, and walks with wicked men?
Job 34:9 ←
For he has said, ‘It profits a man nothing that he should delight himself with God.’
Job 34:10 ←
“Therefore listen to me, you men of understanding: far be it from God, that he should do wickedness, from the Almighty, that he should commit iniquity.
Job 34:11 ←
For the work of a man he will render to him, and cause every man to find according to his ways.
Job 34:12 ←
Yes surely, God will not do wickedly, neither will the Almighty pervert justice.
Job 34:13 ←
Who put him in charge of the earth? Or who has appointed him over the whole world?
Job 34:14 ←
If he set his heart on himself, if he gathered to himself his spirit and his breath,
Job 34:15 ←
all flesh would perish together, and man would turn again to dust.
Job 34:16 ←
“If now you have understanding, hear this. Listen to the voice of my words.
Job 34:17 ←
Should even one who hates justice govern? Will you condemn him who is righteous and mighty,
Job 34:18 ←
who says to a king, ‘Vile!’ or to nobles, ‘Wicked!’?
Job 34:19 ←
He doesn’t respect the persons of princes, nor respect the rich more than the poor, for they all are the work of his hands.
Job 34:20 ←
In a moment they die, even at midnight. The people are shaken and pass away. The mighty are taken away without a hand.
Job 34:21 ←
“For his eyes are on the ways of a man. He sees all his goings.
Job 34:22 ←
There is no darkness, nor thick gloom, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.
Job 34:23 ←
For he doesn’t need to consider a man further, that he should go before God in judgment.
Job 34:24 ←
He breaks mighty men in pieces in ways past finding out, and sets others in their place.
Job 34:25 ←
Therefore he takes knowledge of their works. He overturns them in the night, so that they are destroyed.
Job 34:26 ←
He strikes them as wicked men in the open sight of others;
Job 34:27 ←
because they turned away from following him, and wouldn’t pay attention to any of his ways,
Job 34:28 ←
so that they caused the cry of the poor to come to him. He heard the cry of the afflicted.
Job 34:29 ←
When he gives quietness, who then can condemn? When he hides his face, who then can see him? He is over a nation or a man alike,
Job 34:30 ←
that the godless man may not reign, that there be no one to ensnare the people.
Job 34:31 ←
“For has any said to God, ‘I am guilty, but I will not offend any more.
Job 34:32 ←
Teach me that which I don’t see. If I have done iniquity, I will do it no more’?
Job 34:33 ←
Shall his recompense be as you desire, that you refuse it? For you must choose, and not I. Therefore speak what you know.
Job 34:34 ←
Men of understanding will tell me, yes, every wise man who hears me:
Job 34:35 ←
‘Job speaks without knowledge. His words are without wisdom.’
Job 34:36 ←
I wish that Job were tried to the end, because of his answering like wicked men.
Job 34:37 ←
For he adds rebellion to his sin. He claps his hands among us, and multiplies his words against God.”
Public Domain