Olive Tree Bible App

Job 34 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Elihu Vindicates God’s Justice

34 Then Elihu continued and said,

²“Hear my words, you wise men,
And listen to me, you who understand.
³For ^(A)the ear tests words
As the palate tastes food.
⁴Let us choose for ourselves what is right;
Let us understand among ourselves what is good.
⁵For Job has said, ‘^(B)I am righteous,
But ^(C)God has taken away my right;
⁶^[a]Should I lie about my right?
My ^[b]^(D)wound is incurable, though I am without wrongdoing.’
⁷What man is like Job,
Who ^(E)drinks up derision like water,
⁸Who goes ^(F)in company with the workers of injustice,
And walks with wicked people?
⁹For he has said, ‘^(G)It is of no use to a man
When he becomes friends with God.’

¹⁰“Therefore, listen to me, you men of understanding.
Far be it from God to ^(H)do evil,
And from the Almighty to do wrong.
¹¹For He repays a person for ^(I)his work,
And lets things happen in correspondence to a man’s ^[c]behavior.
¹²^(J)God certainly will not act wickedly,
And the Almighty will not pervert justice.
¹³Who ^(K)gave Him authority over the earth?
And who ^(L)has placed the whole world on Him?
¹⁴If He were to ^[d]determine to do so,
If He were to ^(M)gather His ^[e]spirit and His breath to Himself,
¹⁵^[f]^(N)Humanity would perish together,
And mankind would ^(O)return to dust.

¹⁶“But if you have understanding, hear this;
Listen to the sound of my words.
¹⁷Shall ^(P)one who hates justice rule?
And ^(Q)will you condemn the righteous mighty One,
¹⁸Who says to a king, ‘You worthless one,’
To nobles, ‘You wicked one’;
¹⁹Who shows no ^(R)partiality to the prominent,
Nor regards the rich as above the poor,
Since they are all the ^(S)work of His hands?
²⁰In a moment they die, and ^(T)at midnight
People are shaken and pass away,
And ^(U)the powerful are taken away without a hand.

²¹“For ^(V)His eyes are upon the ways of a person,
And He sees all his steps.
²²There is ^(W)no darkness or deep shadow
Where the workers of injustice can hide themselves.
²³For He does not ^(X)need to consider a person further,
That he should go before God in judgment.
²⁴He breaks in pieces the ^(Y)mighty without investigation,
And sets others in their place.
²⁵Therefore He ^(Z)knows their deeds,
And ^(AA)He overthrows them in the night,
And they are crushed.
²⁶He ^(AB)strikes them like the wicked
^[g]In a public place,
²⁷Because they ^(AC)turned aside from following Him,
And ^(AD)had no regard for any of His ways,
²⁸So that they caused ^(AE)the cry of the poor to come to Him,
And that He would ^(AF)hear the cry of the afflicted—
²⁹When He keeps quiet, who can condemn?
And when He hides His face, who then can look at Him,
That is, regarding both nation and a person?—
³⁰So that ^(AG)godless people would not rule,
Nor be snares for the people.

³¹“For has anyone said to God,
‘I have endured punishment;
I will not offend anymore;
³²Teach me what I do not see;
If I have ^(AH)done wrong,
I will not do it again’?
³³Shall God ^(AI)repay on your terms, because you have rejected His?
For you must choose, and not I;
Therefore declare what you know.
³⁴Men of understanding will say to me,
And a wise man who hears me,
³⁵‘Job ^(AJ)speaks without knowledge,
And his words are without wisdom.
³⁶Oh that Job were tested ^[h]to the limit,
Because ^[i]he answers ^(AK)like sinners.
³⁷For he adds ^(AL)rebellion to his sin;
He ^(AM)claps his hands among us,
And multiplies his words against God.’”

New American Standard Bible (NASB)