Job 34:1-37
34 And Elihu answered
2 “Wise men, hear my words;give ear to me, men of knowledge;
3 For ears test wordsand a palate tastes food.
4 Let us pick out rightsand come to an understanding of what is good,
5 Because Job says ‘I am virtuousbut Deity has taken away my rights;
6 ** Against my rights I am to be lyingand I have a festering arrow in me without a crime.’
7 Who is such a man as Job,who drinks scurrility like water
8 * And takes the route to fellowship with villainsand to company with criminals?
9 Because he says ‘It is of no advantage to a manto be on good terms with God.’
10 So, men of sense, hear me:away with the thought of wrong-doing on Deity’s part,foul play on Shaddai’s,
11 For he will pay man back appropriately to what he does,and give each one the experiences proper to the path he takes.
12 In real truth Deity does not do wrongnor Shaddai play tricks with justice.
13 * Who put him in charge of earth?and who established the whole universe?
14 * If he should draw his spirit back to himselfand take up to himself his breath,
15 All creatures of flesh would expire togetherand man would go back to clay.
16 * And if you are in your senses, listen to me;give ear to the point I make.
17 Is it even to be that one who hates justice holds swayor a great right-doer does wrong?
18 He who says ‘reprobate’ to a kingand ‘iniquitous’ to noblemen,
19 Who does not defer to generalsnor recognize a prominent man before a poor man,because they are all the work of his hands?
20 ** They die in a moment, at midnight;he touches prominent men and they pass by,and removes a formidable fighter without turning a hand.
21 For his eyes are on a man’s coursesand he sees all his steps;
22 There is no darkness, no gloom,that villains may be veiled in.
23 * For a man does not have a date set himto go to Deity for a trial;
24 He breaks great men without an investigationand sets up others in their place.
25 So he is aware of their works,and overthrows in the night and they are beaten down.
26 * For wrong-doers he cuffs themin a place with spectators,
27 Seeing that they had turned off from following himand not been regardful of any of his courses,
28 Bringing in before him a poor man’s outcryand letting him hear the outcry of downtrodden men.
29 * But if he is quiet who is to condemn?or if he veils his face who is to behold him?be it over a nation or over a man alike,
30 * That an ungodly man may not be king,a people’s trap.
31 *** For does he say to Deity‘I bear; I will not do harmful things;
32 What I do not see, teach me yourself;if I have done amiss I will not keep on’?
33 Was he to make requital on the basis of your ideas,that you are vetoing?For you are to choose, not I;what you know, speak out!
34 Men of brains will say to me,and a wise man who hears me,
35 * Job speaks not by knowledgeand his words do not run by common sense.
36 * Let Job be kept under test permanentlyfor answers that put him among villains!
37 * For he adds rebelliousness to his sin,slaps his hands between usand talks volubly to the Deity.”
Footnotes
^ 34:6 Lit. my arrow is festering
^ 34:6 Conj. Against my rights I am in pain
^ 34:8 Lit. and to walk with
^ 34:13 Conj. Who ordained welkin and earth
^ 34:14 Codd. draw his attention back to himself (var. fix his attention on himself) and take up to himself his spirit and his breath
^ 34:16 Lit. to the sound of the point I make
^ 34:20 Codd.* a people reel and pass by
^ 34:20 Codd. and they remove
^ 34:23 Codd. For he takes no further notice of a man to go to
^ 34:26 (first part) Susp.; unc.
^ 34:29-33 Susp.; unc.
^ 34:30 Var.* Letting an ungodly man be king
^ 34:31 Or does one say
^ 34:31 Or have borne
^ 34:31 Or am not doing Or was not doing
^ 34:35 Lit. his words are not by
^ 34:36 Lit. for answers among
^ 34:37 Or he adds sin to sin
