Job 34

Job Chapter 34 ESV

1Elihu chargeth Job with calling to account God's justice; 10whose sovereign perfections suffer him not to be unjust. 31Man ought to humble himself before God. 34Job is blamed for his rash discourses.
1 Then Elihu answered and said:
2 “Hear my words, you wise men, and give ear to me, you who know;
3 for 1the ear tests words as the palate tastes food.
4 Let us choose 1what is right; let us know among ourselves what is good.
5 For Job has said, ‘I am 1in the right, and 2God has taken away my right;
6 in spite of my right I am counted a liar; my wound is incurable, though I am 1without transgression.’
7 What man is like Job, who 1drinks up scoffing like water,
8 who travels in company with evildoers and walks 1with wicked men?
9 For 1he has said, ‘It profits a man nothing that he should take delight in God.’
10 “Therefore, hear me, you men of understanding: far be it from God that he should 1do wickedness, and from the Almighty that he should do wrong.
11 For according to 1the work of a man he will repay him, and 2according to his ways he will make it befall him.
12 Of a truth, God will not do wickedly, and 1the Almighty will not pervert justice.
13 Who gave him charge over the earth, and who 1laid on hima the whole world?
14 If he should 1set his heart to it and 2gather to himself his 3spirit and his breath,
15 all flesh would perish together, and man would 1return to dust.
16 “If you have understanding, hear this; listen to what I say.
17 1Shall one who hates justice govern? Will you condemn him who is righteous and mighty,
18 who 1says to a king, ‘Worthless one,’ and to nobles, ‘Wicked man,’
19 who 1shows no partiality to princes, nor regards the rich 2more than the poor, for 3they are all the work of his hands?
20 In a moment 1they die; at 2midnight the people are shaken and pass away, and the mighty are taken away by 3no human hand.
21 “For his eyes are on 1the ways of a man, and he sees all his 2steps.
22 There is no 1gloom or 2deep darkness where evildoers may hide themselves.
23 For Goda has no need to consider a man further, that he should go before God in 1judgment.
24 He 1shatters the mighty without investigation and sets 2others in their place.
25 Thus, knowing their works, he 1overturns them in the night, and they are crushed.
26 He strikes them for their wickedness in a place for all to see,
27 because they turned aside from 1following him and had no regard for any of his ways,
28 so that they 1caused the cry of the poor to come to him, and he 2heard the cry of the afflicted—
29 When he is quiet, who can condemn? When he hides his face, who can behold him, whether it be a nation or a man?—
30 that a godless man should not reign, that he should not ensnare the people.
31 “For has anyone said to God, ‘I have borne punishment; I will not offend any more;
32 1teach me what I do not see; if I have done iniquity, I will do it no more’?
33 Will he then make repayment to suit you, because you reject it? For you must choose, and not I; therefore 1declare what you know.a
34 Men of understanding will say to me, and the wise man who hears me will say:
35 ‘Job 1speaks without knowledge; his words are without insight.’
36 Would that Job were tried to the end, because he answers like wicked men.
37 For he adds rebellion to his sin; he 1claps his hands among us and multiplies his words against God.”
Job 34

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