Elihu Confirms God’s Justice

1And Elihu answered and said,

2“Hear, O wise men, my words,

and give ear to me, knowing ones.

3For the ear shall test words,

and the palate tastes to eat.

4Let us choose for ourselves what is just;

let us know among ourselves what is good.

5For Job has said, ‘I am righteous,

and God has turned aside my justice.

6And over my justice should I lie?

Mortal is my arrow,

without transgression.’

7Who is a man like Job,

drinking up derision like the water,

8and he travels in company with workers of iniquity,

and in walking with men of wickedness?

9For he has said, ‘Nothing does it profit a man

that he should delight in God.’

10Therefore, O men of heart,

listen to me.

Far be it to God from wickedness,

and Shaddai† from injustice.

11For the work of man, he repays to him;

and according to the way of a man, He causes him to find it.

12Yes, surely God does not act wickedly,

and Shaddai does not pervert justice.

13Who gave charge to Him over the earth?

And who has set Him over all of the world?

14If He should set His heart to it,

gathering His Spirit and His breath to Himself,

15then all flesh would perish together,

and man would return to the dust.

16And if there is understanding, hear this;

give ear to the sound of my words.

17And shall one hating justice govern?

Or will you declare wicked the just and mighty One?

18Who says to a king, ‘Worthless,’

or to nobles, ‘Wicked’?

19Who does not lift the faces of princes,

and does not acknowledge the rich before the face of the poor,

for they are all the work of His hands.

20In a moment they die,

and in the middle of the night

the people are shaken and pass away;

and the mighty are taken away, not by a hand.

21For His eyes are upon the ways of man,

and all of his steps He sees.

22There is no darkness and no shadow of death,

for the workers of iniquity to be hidden there.

23For He does not set upon a man further,

for his going before God in the judgment.

24He breaks the mighty without investigation,

and makes others stand in their place.

25Therefore, He recognizes their works,

and He overturns them in the night, and they are crushed.

26In exchange for their wickednesses,

He strikes them in a place of seeing,

27which was upon thus: They turned aside from Him,

and they had no regard for any of His ways,

28They caused the cry of the poor to cause to come before Him—

and He heard the cry of the afflicted.

29And he is silent, and who can call Him wicked?

And He hides His face, and who can see Him?

And He is over a nation and over man alike,

30from the reigning of godless a man,

from the snares of the people.

31If one says to God,

‘I have lifted it, and no more will I offend;

32besides what I see, You teach me;

if I have done iniquity, I will not continue it’

33will he repay it from with you,

because you have rejected it?

Then you must choose, and not I,

and may you speak what you know.

34Men of understanding will say to me,

and the wise man who is listening to me:

35‘Job does not speak with knowledge,

and His words are not with wisdom.’

36If only Job were tested to the end,

upon his answers among men of iniquity!

37For he adds rebellion upon his sin;

among us he claps,

and he multiplies his words against God.”