ESV - Job Chapter 34 to 36

34 Elihu Asserts God’s Justice

34:1 Then Elihu answered and said:

²“Hear my words, you wise men, and give ear to me, you who know; ³for the ear tests words as the palate tastes food. ⁴Let us choose what is right; let us know among ourselves what is good. ⁵For Job has said, ‘I am in the right, and God has taken away my right; ⁶in spite of my right I am counted a liar; my wound is incurable, though I am without transgression.’ ⁷What man is like Job, who drinks up scoffing like water, ⁸who travels in company with evildoers and walks with wicked men? ⁹For he 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 do wickedness, and from the Almighty that he should do wrong. ¹¹For according to the work of a man he will repay him, and according to his ways he will make it befall him. ¹²Of a truth, God will not do wickedly, and the Almighty will not pervert justice. ¹³Who gave him charge over the earth, and who laid on him[1] the whole world? ¹⁴If he should set his heart to it and gather to himself his spirit and his breath, ¹⁵all flesh would perish together, and man would return to dust.

¹⁶“If you have understanding, hear this; listen to what I say. ¹⁷Shall one who hates justice govern? Will you condemn him who is righteous and mighty, ¹⁸who says to a king, ‘Worthless one,’ and to nobles, ‘Wicked man,’ ¹⁹who shows no partiality to princes, nor regards the rich more than the poor, for they are all the work of his hands? ²⁰In a moment they die; at midnight the people are shaken and pass away, and the mighty are taken away by no human hand.

²¹“For his eyes are on the ways of a man, and he sees all his steps. ²²There is no gloom or deep darkness where evildoers may hide themselves. ²³For God[2] has no need to consider a man further, that he should go before God in judgment. ²⁴He shatters the mighty without investigation and sets others in their place. ²⁵Thus, knowing their works, he overturns them in the night, and they are crushed. ²⁶He strikes them for their wickedness in a place for all to see, ²⁷because they turned aside from following him and had no regard for any of his ways, ²⁸so that they caused the cry of the poor to come to him, and he heard the cry of the afflicted— ²⁹When he is quiet, who can condemn? When he hides his face, who can behold him, whether it be a nation or a man?— ³⁰that 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; ³²teach me what I do not see; if I have done iniquity, I will do it no more’? ³³Will he then make repayment to suit you, because you reject it? For you must choose, and not I; therefore declare what you know.^[3]³⁴Men of understanding will say to me, and the wise man who hears me will say: ³⁵‘Job speaks without knowledge; his words are without insight.’ ³⁶Would that Job were tried to the end, because he answers like wicked men. ³⁷For he adds rebellion to his sin; he claps his hands among us and multiplies his words against God.”

[1] Hebrew lacks on him [2] Hebrew he [3] The meaning of the Hebrew in verses 29-33 is uncertain

35 Elihu Condemns Job

35:1 And Elihu answered and said:

²“Do you think this to be just? Do you say, ‘It is my right before God,’ ³that you ask, ‘What advantage have I? How am I better off than if I had sinned?’ ⁴I will answer you and your friends with you. ⁵Look at the heavens, and see; and behold the clouds, which are higher than you. ⁶If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against him? And if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to him? ⁷If you are righteous, what do you give to him? Or what does he receive from your hand? ⁸Your wickedness concerns a man like yourself, and your righteousness a son of man.

⁹“Because of the multitude of oppressions people cry out; they call for help because of the arm of the mighty.^[4]¹⁰But none says, ‘Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night, ¹¹who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds of the heavens?’ ¹²There they cry out, but he does not answer, because of the pride of evil men. ¹³Surely God does not hear an empty cry, nor does the Almighty regard it. ¹⁴How much less when you say that you do not see him, that the case is before him, and you are waiting for him! ¹⁵And now, because his anger does not punish, and he does not take much note of transgression,^[5]¹⁶Job opens his mouth in empty talk; he multiplies words without knowledge.”

[4] Or the many [5] Theodotion, Symmachus (compare Vulgate); the meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain

36 Elihu Extols God’s Greatness

36:1 And Elihu continued, and said:

²“Bear with me a little, and I will show you, for I have yet something to say on God’s behalf. ³I will get my knowledge from afar and ascribe righteousness to my Maker. ⁴For truly my words are not false; one who is perfect in knowledge is with you.

⁵“Behold, God is mighty, and does not despise any; he is mighty in strength of understanding. ⁶He does not keep the wicked alive, but gives the afflicted their right. ⁷He does not withdraw his eyes from the righteous, but with kings on the throne he sets them forever, and they are exalted. ⁸And if they are bound in chains and caught in the cords of affliction, ⁹then he declares to them their work and their transgressions, that they are behaving arrogantly. ¹⁰He opens their ears to instruction and commands that they return from iniquity. ¹¹If they listen and serve him, they complete their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasantness. ¹²But if they do not listen, they perish by the sword and die without knowledge.

¹³“The godless in heart cherish anger; they do not cry for help when he binds them. ¹⁴They die in youth, and their life ends among the cult prostitutes. ¹⁵He delivers the afflicted by their affliction and opens their ear by adversity. ¹⁶He also allured you out of distress into a broad place where there was no cramping, and what was set on your table was full of fatness.

¹⁷“But you are full of the judgment on the wicked; judgment and justice seize you. ¹⁸Beware lest wrath entice you into scoffing, and let not the greatness of the ransom turn you aside. ¹⁹Will your cry for help avail to keep you from distress, or all the force of your strength? ²⁰Do not long for the night, when peoples vanish in their place. ²¹Take care; do not turn to iniquity, for this you have chosen rather than affliction. ²²Behold, God is exalted in his power; who is a teacher like him? ²³Who has prescribed for him his way, or who can say, ‘You have done wrong’?

²⁴“Remember to extol his work, of which men have sung. ²⁵All mankind has looked on it; man beholds it from afar. ²⁶Behold, God is great, and we know him not; the number of his years is unsearchable. ²⁷For he draws up the drops of water; they distill his mist in rain, ²⁸which the skies pour down and drop on mankind abundantly. ²⁹Can anyone understand the spreading of the clouds, the thunderings of his pavilion? ³⁰Behold, he scatters his lightning about him and covers the roots of the sea. ³¹For by these he judges peoples; he gives food in abundance. ³²He covers his hands with the lightning and commands it to strike the mark. ³³Its crashing declares his presence;[6] the cattle also declare that he rises.

[6] Hebrew declares concerning him