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Job 34

Elihu Vindicates God’s Justice

¹Then Elihu continued and said,

²“Hear my words, you wise men, And listen to me, you who understand.

³“For the ear tests words As the palate tastes food.

⁴“Let us choose for ourselves what is right; Let us understand among ourselves what is good.

⁵“For Job has said, ‘I am righteous, But God has taken away my right;

⁶Should I lie about my right? My wound is incurable, though I am without wrongdoing.’

⁷“What man is like Job, Who drinks up derision like water,

⁸Who goes in company with the workers of injustice, And walks with wicked people?

⁹“For he has said, ‘It is of no use to a man When he becomes friends with God.’

¹⁰¶“Therefore, listen to me, you men of understanding. Far be it from God to do evil, And from the Almighty to do wrong.

¹¹“For He repays a person for his work, And lets things happen in correspondence to a man’s behavior.

¹²“God certainly will not act wickedly, And the Almighty will not pervert justice.

¹³“Who gave Him authority over the earth? And who has placed the whole world on Him?

¹⁴“If He were to determine to do so, If He were to gather His spirit and His breath to Himself,

¹⁵Humanity would perish together, And mankind would return to dust.

¹⁶¶“But if you have understanding, hear this; Listen to the sound of my words.

¹⁷“Shall one who hates justice rule? And will you condemn the righteous mighty One,

¹⁸Who says to a king, ‘You worthless one,’ To nobles, ‘You wicked one’;

¹⁹Who shows no partiality to the prominent, Nor regards the rich as above the poor, Since they are all the work of His hands?

²⁰“In a moment they die, and at midnight People are shaken and pass away, And the powerful are taken away without a hand.

²¹¶“For His eyes are upon the ways of a person, And He sees all his steps.

²²“There is no darkness or deep shadow Where the workers of injustice can hide themselves.

²³“For He does not need to consider a person further, That he should go before God in judgment.

²⁴“He breaks in pieces the mighty without investigation, And sets others in their place.

²⁵“Therefore He knows their deeds, And He overthrows them in the night, And they are crushed.

²⁶“He strikes them like the wicked In a public place,

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 that He would hear the cry of the afflicted—

²⁹When He keeps quiet, who can condemn? And when He hides His face, who then can look at Him, That is, regarding both nation and a person?—

³⁰“So that godless people would not rule, Nor be snares for the people.

³¹¶“For has anyone said to God, ‘I have endured punishment; I will not offend anymore;

³²Teach me what I do not see; If I have done wrong, I will not do it again’?

³³“Shall God repay on your terms, because you have rejected His? For you must choose, and not I; Therefore declare what you know.

³⁴“Men of understanding will say to me, And a wise man who hears me,

³⁵‘Job speaks without knowledge, And his words are without wisdom.

³⁶‘Oh that Job were tested to the limit, Because he answers like sinners.

³⁷‘For he adds rebellion to his sin; He claps his hands among us, And multiplies his words against God.’ ”

Job 34 (NASB)

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Job

Chapter 34

34 of 42