Iyov (Job) 34
34
1Elihu continued speaking:
2“Hear my words, you sages!
Listen to me, you who know so much!
3For the ear tests words,
just as the palate tastes food.
4Let’s choose for ourselves what is just;
let’s decide among ourselves what is good.
5For Iyov says, ‘I am in the right,
but God is denying me justice.
6Against justice, I am considered a liar;
my wound is mortal, though I committed no crime.’
7“Is there a man like Iyov,
who drinks in scoffing like water,
8who keeps company with evildoers
and goes with wicked men,
9since he thinks, ‘It profits a person nothing
to be in accord with God’?
10“So listen to me, you men with sense!
Far be it from God to do anything wicked!
11For he pays people back for what they do
and sees that each gets what his conduct deserves.
12It is certain that God does nothing wicked;
Shaddai will not pervert justice.
13Did someone else put him in charge of the earth?
Who else established the entire world?
14If he were to take back man’s heart to himself,
if he gathered to himself his spirit and breath;
15all flesh would instantly perish,
everyone would return to dust.
16“If you have any sense, [Iyov,] hear this;
listen to what I am saying.
17-18Should a hater of justice be in control?
If you wouldn’t tell a king, ‘You’re a scoundrel!’
or nobles, ‘You are wicked men!’
then you shouldn’t condemn the Just and Mighty One,
19who is neither partial toward princes
nor favors the rich over the poor,
since they all are the work of his hands.
20They may die in a moment, in the middle of the night —
the people are shaken and pass away,
the mighty are removed without human hands.
21For he keeps watch on a person’s ways;
he sees his every step.
22There is no darkness, no death-like gloom,
where wrongdoers can hide;
23for he doesn’t give warning to people
when they must appear before God in judgment.
24He shatters the mighty without needing to investigate
and sets up others in their place.
25Therefore, aware of what they are doing,
he overturns them by night, and they are crushed.
26He strikes them as if they were common criminals
in the open sight of others,
27because they turned away from following him
and gave no thought to any of his ways,
28thereby bringing before him the cries of the poor;
and he hears the cries of the oppressed.
29“But if God is silent, who can accuse him;
if he hides his face, who can see him?
He may do this to nations and persons alike,
30so that godless men will not become kings,
and the people will not be lured into traps.
31“For has anyone said to God,
‘I have been chastised without having offended;
32teach me what I have failed to see;
and if I have done wrong, I will do it no more’?
33Must his rewards meet your approval?
Well, you are the one who doesn’t like them,
so you, not I, should pick the alternative;
come on, say what you think!
34Intelligent people will tell me,
every wise man who hears me will say,
35‘Iyov is speaking without thinking;
his words lack discernment.’
36“I wish Iyov would be kept on trial forever,
because he answers like wicked men.
37For now to his sin he adds rebellion;
he [mockingly] claps his hands among us
and keeps adding to his words against God.”
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Iyov (Job) 34: CJB
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