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Job 34 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

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Elihu Asserts God’s Justice

Unchecked Copy BoxJob 34:1 - Then Elihu answered and said:
Unchecked Copy BoxJob 34:2 - “Hear my words, you wise men,
and give ear to me, you who know;
Unchecked Copy BoxJob 34:3 - for the ear tests words
as the palate tastes food.
Unchecked Copy BoxJob 34:4 - Let us choose what is right;
let us know among ourselves what is good.
Unchecked Copy BoxJob 34:5 - For Job has said, ‘I am in the right,
and God has taken away my right;
Unchecked Copy BoxJob 34:6 - in spite of my right I am counted a liar;
my wound is incurable, though I am without transgression.’
Unchecked Copy BoxJob 34:7 - What man is like Job,
who drinks up scoffing like water,
Unchecked Copy BoxJob 34:8 - who travels in company with evildoers
and walks with wicked men?
Unchecked Copy BoxJob 34:9 - For he has said, ‘It profits a man nothing
that he should take delight in God.’
Unchecked Copy BoxJob 34:10 - “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.
Unchecked Copy BoxJob 34:11 - For according to the work of a man he will repay him,
and according to his ways he will make it befall him.
Unchecked Copy BoxJob 34:12 - Of a truth, God will not do wickedly,
and the Almighty will not pervert justice.
Unchecked Copy BoxJob 34:13 - Who gave him charge over the earth,
and who laid on him[fn] the whole world?
Unchecked Copy BoxJob 34:14 - If he should set his heart to it
and gather to himself his spirit and his breath,
Unchecked Copy BoxJob 34:15 - all flesh would perish together,
and man would return to dust.
Unchecked Copy BoxJob 34:16 - “If you have understanding, hear this;
listen to what I say.
Unchecked Copy BoxJob 34:17 - Shall one who hates justice govern?
Will you condemn him who is righteous and mighty,
Unchecked Copy BoxJob 34:18 - who says to a king, ‘Worthless one,’
and to nobles, ‘Wicked man,’
Unchecked Copy BoxJob 34:19 - who shows no partiality to princes,
nor regards the rich more than the poor,
for they are all the work of his hands?
Unchecked Copy BoxJob 34:20 - In a moment they die;
at midnight the people are shaken and pass away,
and the mighty are taken away by no human hand.
Unchecked Copy BoxJob 34:21 - “For his eyes are on the ways of a man,
and he sees all his steps.
Unchecked Copy BoxJob 34:22 - There is no gloom or deep darkness
where evildoers may hide themselves.
Unchecked Copy BoxJob 34:23 - For God[fn] has no need to consider a man further,
that he should go before God in judgment.
Unchecked Copy BoxJob 34:24 - He shatters the mighty without investigation
and sets others in their place.
Unchecked Copy BoxJob 34:25 - Thus, knowing their works,
he overturns them in the night, and they are crushed.
Unchecked Copy BoxJob 34:26 - He strikes them for their wickedness
in a place for all to see,
Unchecked Copy BoxJob 34:27 - because they turned aside from following him
and had no regard for any of his ways,
Unchecked Copy BoxJob 34:28 - so that they caused the cry of the poor to come to him,
and he heard the cry of the afflicted—
Unchecked Copy BoxJob 34:29 - When he is quiet, who can condemn?
When he hides his face, who can behold him,
whether it be a nation or a man?—
Unchecked Copy BoxJob 34:30 - that a godless man should not reign,
that he should not ensnare the people.
Unchecked Copy BoxJob 34:31 - “For has anyone said to God,
‘I have borne punishment; I will not offend any more;
Unchecked Copy BoxJob 34:32 - teach me what I do not see;
if I have done iniquity, I will do it no more’?
Unchecked Copy BoxJob 34:33 - Will he then make repayment to suit you,
because you reject it?
For you must choose, and not I;
therefore declare what you know.[fn]
Unchecked Copy BoxJob 34:34 - Men of understanding will say to me,
and the wise man who hears me will say:
Unchecked Copy BoxJob 34:35 - ‘Job speaks without knowledge;
his words are without insight.’
Unchecked Copy BoxJob 34:36 - Would that Job were tried to the end,
because he answers like wicked men.
Unchecked Copy BoxJob 34:37 - For he adds rebellion to his sin;
he claps his hands among us
and multiplies his words against God.”
ESV Footnotes
Hebrew lacks on him
Hebrew he
The meaning of the Hebrew in verses 29–33 is uncertain
ESV

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016 by Crossway Books and Bibles, a Publishing Ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

See detailed copyright information.

For more information on this translation, see the ESV Preface.

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