Job 34

1 And Elihu answered and said,

2 Hear my words, wise men; and give ear to me, you who have knowledge;

3 For the ear tries words, as the palate tastes food.

4 Let us choose for ourselves what is right; let us know among ourselves what is good.

5 For Job has said, I am righteous; and God has taken away my right;

6 should I lie against my right? My wound cannot be cured; I am without rebellion.

7 What man is like Job, who drinks up scorning like water;

8 who goes in company with the workers of iniquity, and walks with wicked men?

9 For he has said, It profits a man nothing when he is accepted with God.

10 Therefore listen to me, O man of heart; far be it from God to commit iniquity; and from the Almighty, to do wrong.

11 For He repays man's work, and causes him to find according to his ways.

12 Yes, surely God will not do wickedly, neither will the Almighty pervert justice.

13 Who has given the earth as a deposit with Him? Or who has set the whole world in order?

14 If He sets His heart on man, if He gathers to Himself his spirit and his breath,

15 all flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again to dust.

16 If now you have understanding, hear this; listen to the sound of my words.

17 Shall one who hates right govern? And will you condemn Him who is just and mighty?

18 Who says to a king, O worthless one; and to nobles, O evil one?

19 How much less to Him who does not lift up the face of rulers, nor regard the rich before the poor? For all of them are the work of His hands.

20 In a moment they die, and a people are shaken at midnight and pass away; and the mighty shall be taken away without a hand.

21 For His eyes are on the ways of man, and He sees all his steps.

22 There is no darkness, nor shadow of death to hide there the workers of iniquity.

23 For He does not still impose on man to go before God in judgment.

24 He shall break in pieces mighty men without number, and set others in their place.

25 Therefore He knows their works, and He overturns in the night, so that they are destroyed.

26 He strikes them for evil deeds in the place of the watchers,

27 because thus they turned from following Him, and they did not consider all His ways;

28 so as to cause the cry of the poor to come to Him, for He hears the cry of the afflicted.

29 And He gives quietness, who then can condemn? And when He hides His face, who can behold Him? And it may be against a nation and a man together;

30 from the reigning of ungodly men, from being snares for the people.

31 For has any said to God, I have taken away; I will not pervert?

32 Besides what I see, You teach me; if I have done iniquity, I will do it no more.

33 Must He repay because you rejected it? For you must choose, and not I; therefore speak what you know.

34 Men of understanding will say to me, and a wise man who hears me will say,

35 Job has spoken without knowledge, and his words were without wisdom.

36 Would that Job may be tried to the end because his answers are like men of iniquity.

37 For he adds rebellion to his sins; he claps his hands among us, and multiplies his words against God.