Job 33 - 34 - Legacy Standard Bible

Job 33 - 34

Elihu Asks Job to Hear and Respond

“However now, Job, please hear my speech,

And give ear to all my words.

Behold now, I open my mouth;

My tongue in my mouth speaks.

My words are from the uprightness of my heart,

And my lips speak knowledge sincerely.

The Spirit of God has made me,

And the breath of the Almighty gives me life.

Respond to me if you can;

Arrange yourselves before me, take your stand.

Behold, I belong to God like you;

I too have been formed out of the clay.

Behold, no dread of me should terrify you,

Nor should my pressure weigh heavily on you.

“Surely you have spoken in my hearing,

And I have heard the sound of your speech:

‘I am pure, without transgression;

I am innocent, and there is no guilt in me.

Behold, He finds reasons for opposition against me;

He counts me as His enemy.

He puts my feet in the stocks;

He keeps watch over all my paths.’

Behold, let me answer you; you are not right in this,

For God is greater than mortal man.

“Why do you contend against Him?

For He does not give an answer for all His doings.

Indeed God speaks once,

Or twice, yet no one perceives it.

In a dream, a vision of the night,

When deep sleep falls on men,

While they slumber in their beds,

Then He opens the ears of men,

And seals in their discipline,

That He may turn man aside from his conduct,

And keep man from pride;

He holds back his soul from the pit,

And his life from passing over to death by a weapon.

“Man is also reproved with pain on his bed,

And with unceasing contention in his bones,

So that his life loathes bread,

And his soul favorite food.

His flesh wastes away from sight,

And his bones which were not seen stick out.

Then his soul draws near to the pit,

And his life to those who bring death.

“If there is an angel as mediator for him,

One out of a thousand,

To declare to a man what is right for him,

Then let him be gracious to him, and say,

‘Deliver him from going down to the pit;

I have found atonement’;

Let his flesh become fresher than in youth,

Let him return to the days of his youthful vigor;

Then he will entreat God, and He will accept him,

And he will see His face with joyful shouts,

And He may restore His righteousness to man.

He will sing to men and say,

‘I have sinned and perverted what is right,

But He has not done what is due to me.

He has redeemed my soul from passing into the pit,

And my life shall see the light.’

“Behold, God does all these things twice, three times with men,

To bring back his soul from the pit,

That he may be enlightened with the light of life.

Pay attention, O Job, listen to me;

Keep silent, and I will speak.

Then if you have any speech, respond to me;

Speak, for I desire to prove you righteous.

If not, listen to me;

Keep silent, and I will teach you wisdom.”

Elihu Answers That God Will Be Just

Then Elihu answered and said, 2

“Hear my speech, you wise men,

And give ear to me, you who know.

For the ear tests words

As the palate tastes food.

Let us choose for ourselves what is just;

Let us know among ourselves what is good.

For Job has said, ‘I am righteous,

But God has removed my justice;

Should I lie concerning my justice?

My wound is incurable, though I am without transgression.’

What man is like Job,

Who drinks up mocking like water,

But he travels in company with the workers of iniquity,

And walks with wicked men?

For he has said, ‘It is of no use to a man

When he is pleased with God.’

“Therefore, listen to me, you men with a heart of wisdom.

Far be it from God to do injustice,

And from the Almighty to do wrong.

For He pays a man according to his work,

And makes him find it according to his way.

Truly, God will not act wickedly,

And the Almighty will not pervert justice.

Who appointed Him with authority over the earth?

And who has laid on Him the whole world?

If He should set His heart on it,

If He should gather to Himself His spirit and His breath,

All flesh would breathe its last together,

And man would return to dust.

“But if you have understanding, hear this;

Give ear to the sound of my speech.

Shall one who hates justice rule?

And will you condemn the righteous mighty One,

Who says to a king, ‘Vile one,’

To nobles, ‘Wicked ones’;

Who shows no partiality to princes

Nor recognizes the rich above the poor,

For they all are the work of His hands?

In a moment they die, and at midnight

People are shaken and pass away,

And the mighty are taken away without a hand.

“For His eyes are upon the ways of a man,

And He sees all his steps.

There is no darkness or shadow of death

Where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.

For He does not need to consider a man further,

That he should go before God in judgment.

He breaks in pieces mighty men without searching anything out,

And sets others in their place.

Therefore He recognizes their labors,

And He overthrows them in the night,

And they are crushed.

He strikes them like the wicked

In a public place,

Because they turned aside from following Him,

And had no insight from any of His ways;

So that they caused the cry of the poor to come to Him,

And that He might hear the cry of the afflicted.

So if He keeps quiet, who then can condemn?

So if He hides His face, who then can perceive Him?

He is above both nation and man altogether,

So that godless men would not rule

Nor be snares of the people.

“For has anyone said to God,

‘I have borne chastisement;

I will not work destructively anymore;

Instruct me what I do not behold;

If I have done injustice,

I will not do it again’?

Shall He repay on your terms, because you have rejected it?

For you must choose, and not I;

Therefore say what you know.

Men with a heart of wisdom will say to me,

And a wise man who hears me,

‘Job speaks without knowledge,

And his words are without insight.

Job ought to be tested to the limit

Because he answers like wicked men.

For he adds transgression to his sin;

He strikes his hands together among us,

And multiplies his words against God.’”