Job 34:1-37
34 And E·liʹhu continued to answer and say:
2 “Listen, YOU wise ones, to my words;And YOU who know, give ear to me.
3 For the ear itself makes a test of words,+Just as the palate tastes when eating.+
4 Judgment let us choose for ourselves;Let us know among ourselves what is good.
5 For Job has said, ‘I certainly am in the right,+But God* himself has turned aside the judgment of me.+
6 Against my own judgment do I tell lies?My severe wound is incurable though there is no transgression.’+
7 What able-bodied man* is like Job,+[Who] drinks up derision like water?+
8 And he is certainly on his way to companionship with practicers of what is hurtfulAnd to walking with men of wickedness.+
9 For he has said, ‘An able-bodied man does not profit+By his taking pleasure in God.’*
10 Therefore, YOU men of heart,+ listen to me.Far be it from the [true] God* to act wickedly,+And the Almighty to act unjustly!+
11 For [according to] the way earthling man* acts he will reward+ him,And according to the path of man* he will cause it to come upon him.
12 Yes, for a fact, God* himself does not act wickedly,+And the Almighty himself does not pervert judgment.+
13 Who has assigned to him the earth,And who has appointed [to him] the productive land,* even all of it?
14 If he sets his heart upon anyone,[If] that one’s spirit and breath he gathers to himself,+
15 All flesh will expire together,And earthling man* himself will return to the very dust.+
16 So if [you have] understanding, do listen to this;Do give ear to the sound of my words.
17 Really will anyone hating justice control,+And if a powerful one is righteous will you pronounce [him] wicked?+
18 Shall one say* to a king, ‘You are good for nothing’?*To nobles, ‘You are wicked’?+
19 [There is One] who has not shown partiality to princesAnd has not given more consideration to the noble+ one than to the lowly one,For all of them are the work of his hands.+
20 In a moment they die,+ even in the middle of the night;+The people shake back and forth and pass away,And powerful ones depart by no hand.+
21 For his eyes are upon the ways of man,*+And all his steps he sees.
22 There is no darkness nor any deep shadowFor those practicing what is hurtful to conceal themselves there.+
23 For he sets no appointed time for any manTo go to God* in judgment.
24 He breaks powerful ones+ without any investigation,And he makes others stand up instead of them.+
25 Therefore he recognizes what their works are,+And he does overthrow [them] at night, and they get crushed.+
26 As wicked ones he does slap themIn the place of onlookers;+
27 For the reason that they have turned aside from following him,+And none of his ways have they considered,+
28 So as to cause the outcry of the lowly one to come to him;And so he hears the outcry of the afflicted ones.+
29 When he himself causes quietness, who, then, can condemn?And when he conceals [his] face,+ who can behold him,Whether it is toward a nation+ or toward a man,* it being the same thing?
30 So that an apostate man may not reign,+Nor there be snares+ of the people.
31 For will anyone actually say to God himself,‘I have borne, although I do not act corruptly;+
32 Although I behold nothing, instruct me yourself;If any unrighteousness I have committed,I shall not do [it] again’?+
33 Will he make good for it from your standpoint because you do refuse [judgment],Because you yourself choose, and not I?Even what you well know, speak.
34 Men of heart+ themselves will say to me—Even a wise able-bodied man that is listening to me,
35 ‘Job himself speaks without knowledge,+And his words are without [his] having insight.’
36 My father, let Job be tested* out to the limitOver his replies among men of hurtfulness.+
37 For on top of his sin he adds revolt;+Among us he claps [his hands] and multiplies his sayings against the [true] God!”*+
Footnotes
^ “But God.” Heb., weʼElʹ.
^ “Able-bodied man.” Heb., gheʹver.
^ “God.” Heb., ʼElo·himʹ; LXX, “Jehovah.”
^ “From the [true] God.” Heb., la·ʼElʹ; LXX, “Jehovah.” See App 1G.
^ “Earthling man.” Heb., ʼa·dhamʹ.
^ “Man.” Heb., ʼish.
^ “God.” Heb., ʼEl; LXX, “Jehovah.”
^ “Productive land.” Heb., te·velʹ; Lat., orʹbem, “circle,” that is, of the earth.
^ “And earthling man.” Heb., weʼa·dhamʹ.
^ Lit., “Shall there be a saying.” In Heb. this is a verb in the infinitive construct, indefinite as to time and impersonal.
^ Lit., “king, ‘Belial!’?”
^ Or, “each one.” Heb., ʼish, as in vs 23.
^ “God.” Heb., ʼEl.
^ Or, “an earthling man.” Heb., ʼa·dhamʹ.
^ Or, “O that Job may be tested.”
^ “Against the [true] God.” Heb., la·ʼElʹ. See App 1G.
