June 15
Job 33:1 — 35:16
33 “Now, however, O Job, please hear my words,
And to all my speaking do give ear.
2 Look, please! I have to open my mouth;
My tongue with my palate has to speak.
3 My sayings are the uprightness of my heart,
And knowledge is what my lips do utter sincerely.
4 God’s own spirit made me,
And the Almighty’s own breath proceeded to bring me to life.
5 If you are able, make reply to me,
Array [words] before me; do take your station.
6 Look! I am to the [true] God just what you are;
From the clay I was shaped, I too.
7 Look! No frightfulness in me will terrify you,
And no pressure by me will be heavy upon you.
8 Only you have said in my ears,
And the sound of [your] words I kept hearing,
9 ‘I am pure without transgression;
Clean I am, and I have no error.
10 Look! Occasions for opposition to me he finds,
He takes me for an enemy of his.
11 He puts my feet in the stocks,
He watches all my paths.’
12 Look! In this you have not been in the right, I answer you;
For God is much more than mortal man.
13 Why is it against him that you contended,
Because all your words he does not answer?
14 For God speaks once,
And twice—though one does not regard it—
15 In a dream, a vision of the night,
When deep sleep falls upon men,
During slumbers upon the bed.
16 It is then that he uncovers the ear of men,
And on exhortation to them he puts his seal,
17 To turn aside a man from his deed,
And that he may cover pride itself from an able-bodied man.
18 He keeps his soul back from the pit
And his life from passing away by a missile.
19 And he is actually reproved with pain upon his bed,
And the quarreling of his bones is continual.
20 And his life certainly makes bread loathsome,
And his own soul desirable food.
21 His flesh wastes away from sight,
And his bones that were not seen certainly grow bare.
22 And his soul draws near to the pit,
And his life to those inflicting death.
23 If there exists for him a messenger,
A spokesman, one out of a thousand,
To tell to man his uprightness,
24 Then he favors him and says,
‘Let him off from going down into the pit!
I have found a ransom!
25 Let his flesh become fresher than in youth;
Let him return to the days of his youthful vigor.’
26 He will make entreaty to God that he may take pleasure in him,
And he will see his face with joyful shouting,
And He will restore His righteousness to mortal man.
27 He will sing to men and say,
‘I have sinned; and what is upright I have perverted,
And it certainly was not the proper thing for me.
28 He has redeemed my soul from passing into the pit,
And my life itself will see the light.’
29 Look! All these things God performs,
Two times, three times, in the case of an able-bodied man,
30 To turn his soul back from the pit,
That he may be enlightened with the light of those living.
31 Pay attention, O Job! Listen to me!
Keep silent, and I myself shall continue speaking.
32 If there are any words [to say], make reply to me;
Speak, for I have taken delight in your righteousness.
33 If there are none, you yourself listen to me;
Keep silent, and I shall teach you wisdom.”
34 And Elihu continued to answer and say:
2 “Listen, YOU wise ones, to my words;
And YOU who know, give ear to me.
3 For the ear itself makes a test of words,
Just as the palate tastes when eating.
4 Judgment let us choose for ourselves;
Let us know among ourselves what is good.
5 For Job has said, ‘I certainly am in the right,
But God himself has turned aside the judgment of me.
6 Against my own judgment do I tell lies?
My severe wound is incurable though there is no transgression.’
7 What able-bodied man is like Job,
[Who] drinks up derision like water?
8 And he is certainly on his way to companionship with practicers of what is hurtful
And to walking with men of wickedness.
9 For he has said, ‘An able-bodied man does not profit
By his taking pleasure in God.’
10 Therefore, YOU men of heart, listen to me.
Far be it from the [true] God to act wickedly,
And the Almighty to act unjustly!
11 For [according to] the way earthling man acts he will reward him,
And according to the path of man he will cause it to come upon him.
12 Yes, for a fact, God himself does not act wickedly,
And the Almighty himself does not pervert judgment.
13 Who has assigned to him the earth,
And who has appointed [to him] the productive land, even all of it?
14 If he sets his heart upon anyone,
[If] that one’s spirit and breath he gathers to himself,
15 All flesh will expire together,
And earthling man himself will return to the very dust.
16 So if [you have] understanding, do listen to this;
Do give ear to the sound of my words.
17 Really will anyone hating justice control,
And if a powerful one is righteous will you pronounce [him] wicked?
18 Shall one say to a king, ‘You are good for nothing’?
To nobles, ‘You are wicked’?
19 [There is One] who has not shown partiality to princes
And has not given more consideration to the noble one than to the lowly one,
For all of them are the work of his hands.
20 In a moment they die, even in the middle of the night;
The people shake back and forth and pass away,
And powerful ones depart by no hand.
21 For his eyes are upon the ways of man,
And all his steps he sees.
22 There is no darkness nor any deep shadow
For those practicing what is hurtful to conceal themselves there.
23 For he sets no appointed time for any man
To go to God in judgment.
24 He breaks powerful ones without any investigation,
And he makes others stand up instead of them.
25 Therefore he recognizes what their works are,
And he does overthrow [them] at night, and they get crushed.
26 As wicked ones he does slap them
In the place of onlookers;
27 For the reason that they have turned aside from following him,
And none of his ways have they considered,
28 So as to cause the outcry of the lowly one to come to him;
And so he hears the outcry of the afflicted ones.
29 When he himself causes quietness, who, then, can condemn?
And when he conceals [his] face, who can behold him,
Whether it is toward a nation or toward a man, it being the same thing?
30 So that an apostate man may not reign,
Nor there be snares of the people.
31 For will anyone actually say to God himself,
‘I have borne, although I do not act corruptly;
32 Although I behold nothing, instruct me yourself;
If any unrighteousness I have committed,
I shall not do [it] again’?
33 Will he make good for it from your standpoint because you do refuse [judgment],
Because you yourself choose, and not I?
Even what you well know, speak.
34 Men of heart themselves will say to me—
Even a wise able-bodied man that is listening to me,
35 ‘Job himself speaks without knowledge,
And his words are without [his] having insight.’
36 My father, let Job be tested out to the limit
Over his replies among men of hurtfulness.
37 For on top of his sin he adds revolt;
Among us he claps [his hands] and multiplies his sayings against the [true] God!”
35 And Elihu continued answering and saying:
2 “Is this what you have regarded as justice?
You have said, ‘My righteousness is more than God’s.’
3 For you say, ‘Of what use is it to you?
What benefit do I have more than by my sinning?’
4 I myself shall reply to you
And to your companions with you.
5 Look up to heaven and see,
And behold the clouds, [that] they are indeed higher than you.
6 If you actually sin, what do you accomplish against him?
And [if] your revolts actually increase, what do you do to him?
7 If you are really in the right, what do you give him,
Or what does he receive from your own hand?
8 Your wickedness may be against a man like you,
And your righteousness to a son of earthling man.
9 Because of the multitude of oppressions they keep calling for aid;
They keep crying for help because of the arm of the great ones.
10 And yet no one has said, ‘Where is God my Grand Maker,
The One giving melodies in the night?’
11 He is the One teaching us more than the beasts of the earth,
And he makes us wiser than even the flying creatures of the heavens.
12 There they keep crying out, but he does not answer,
Because of the pride of the bad ones.
13 Only the untruth God does not hear,
And the Almighty himself does not behold it.
14 How much less, then, when you say you do not behold him!
The legal case is before him, and so you should wait anxiously for him.
15 And now because his anger has not called for an accounting,
He has also not taken note of the extreme rashness.
16 And Job himself opens his mouth wide simply for nothing;
Without knowledge he multiplies mere words.”