Job 34:1-22 ▼

1 And Elihu answered and said,

2 “Hear, O wise men, my words, and give ear to me, knowing ones.

3 For the ear shall test words, and the palate tastes to eat.

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

5 For Job has said, ‘I am righteous, and God has turned aside my justice.

6 And over my justice should I lie? Mortal is my arrow, without transgression.’

7 Who is a man like Job, drinking up derision like the water,

8 and he travels in company with workers of iniquity, and in walking with men of wickedness?

9 For he has said, ‘Nothing does it profit a man that he should delight in God.’

10 Therefore, O men of heart, listen to me. Far be it to God from wickedness, and Shaddai from injustice.

11 For the work of man, he repays to him; and according to the way of a man, He causes him to find it.

12 Yes, surely God does not act wickedly, and Shaddai does not pervert justice.

13 Who gave charge to Him over the earth? And who has set Him over all of the world?

14 If He should set His heart to it, gathering His Spirit and His breath to Himself,

15 then all flesh would perish together, and man would return to the dust.

16 And if there is understanding, hear this; give ear to the sound of my words.

17 And shall one hating justice govern? Or will you declare wicked the just and mighty One?

18 Who says to a king, ‘Worthless,’ or to nobles, ‘Wicked’?

19 Who 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.

20 In 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.

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

22 There is no darkness and no shadow of death, for the workers of iniquity to be hidden there.