• Elihu Vindicates God’s Justice

  • 1 Then 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;
  • 6 Should 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,
  • 8 Who 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,
  • 15 Humanity 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,
  • 18 Who says to a king, ‘You worthless one,’ To nobles, ‘You wicked one’;
  • 19 Who 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,
  • 27 Because they turned aside from following Him, And had no regard for any of His ways,
  • 28 So that they caused the cry of the poor to come to Him, And that He would hear the cry of the afflicted—
  • 29 When 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;
  • 32 Teach 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.’”