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1Then Elihu continued and said:
2“Hear my words, you wise men,
and give ear to me, you who know,
3for the ear tests words[#Job 12.11]
as the palate tastes food.
4Let us choose what is right;[#1 Thess 5.21]
let us determine among ourselves what is good.
5For Job has said, ‘I am innocent,
and God has taken away my right;
6in spite of being right I am counted a liar;[#Jer 15.18; 30.12]
my wound is incurable, though I am without transgression.’
7Who is there like Job,[#Job 15.16]
who drinks up scoffing like water,
8who goes in company with evildoers[#Ps 50.18]
and walks with the wicked?
9For he has said, ‘It profits one nothing[#Job 21.15; 35.3]
to take delight in God.’
10“Therefore, hear me, you who have sense;[#Job 8.3]
far be it from God that he should do wickedness
and from the Almighty that he should do wrong.
11For according to their deeds he will repay them,[#Ps 62.12; Mt 16.27; Rom 2.6; 2 Cor 5.10; Rev 22.12]
and according to their ways he will make it befall them.
12Of a truth, God will not do wickedly,[#Job 8.3]
and the Almighty will not pervert justice.
13Who gave him charge over the earth,[#Job 38.5, 6]
and who laid on him the whole world?
14If he should take back his spirit to himself[#Ps 104.29; #34.14 Heb his heart his spirit]
and gather to himself his breath,
15all flesh would perish together,[#Gen 3.19; Isa 40.6, 7]
and all mortals return to dust.
16“If you have understanding, hear this;
listen to what I say.
17Shall one who hates justice govern?[#2 Sam 23.3]
Will you condemn one who is righteous and mighty,
18who says to a king, ‘You scoundrel!’[#Ex 22.28]
and to princes, ‘You wicked men!’;
19who shows no partiality to nobles,[#Deut 10.17; Job 31.15; Gal 2.6]
nor regards the rich more than the poor,
for they are all the work of his hands?
20In a moment they die;[#Ex 12.29; Job 12.19]
at midnight the people are shaken and pass away,
and the mighty are taken away by no human hand.
21“For his eyes are upon the ways of mortals,[#Job 31.4]
and he sees all their steps.
22There is no gloom or deep darkness[#Ps 139.12; Am 9.2, 3]
where evildoers may hide themselves.
23For he has not appointed a time for anyone[#34.23 Cn: Heb yet]
to go before God in judgment.
24He shatters the mighty without investigation[#Dan 2.21]
and sets others in their place.
25Thus, knowing their works,[#vv 11, 20]
he overturns them in the night, and they are crushed.
26He strikes them for their wickedness[#Job 26.12]
while others look on,
27because they turned aside from following him[#1 Sam 15.11; Ps 28.5; Isa 5.12]
and had no regard for any of his ways,
28so that they caused the cry of the poor to come to him,[#Ex 22.23; Job 35.9; Jas 5.4]
and he heard the cry of the afflicted—
29When he is quiet, who can condemn?[#1 Chr 22.9]
When he hides his face, who can behold him?
Whether nation or person, it is the same—
30so that the godless should not reign[#v 17]
or those who ensnare the people.
31“For has anyone said to God,
‘I have endured punishment; I will not offend any more;
32teach me what I do not see;[#Job 35.11; Ps 25.4]
if I have done iniquity, I will do it no more’?
33Will he then pay back to suit you
because you reject it?
For you must choose and not I;
therefore declare what you know.
34Those who have sense will say to me,
and the wise who hear me will say,
35‘Job speaks without knowledge;[#Job 35.16]
his words are without insight.’
36Would that Job were tried to the limit,[#Job 22.15; 23.10]
because his answers are those of the wicked.
37For he adds rebellion to his sin;
he claps his hands among us
and multiplies his words against God.”