Speeches of Elihu
2   Look, I am ready to answer;
the words are on the tip of my tongue. ^note
3   My heart assures me that I speak with knowledge,
and that my lips speak with sincerity.
4   For the spirit of God made me,
and the breath of the Almighty gave me life.
5   Answer me if you can,
marshal your arguments and confront me.
6   In God's sight ^note I am just what you are;
I too am only a handful of clay.
7   Fear of me need not abash you,
nor any pressure from me overawe you.
8   You have said your say and I heard you;
I have listened to the sound of your words:
9   ‘I am innocent’, you said, ‘and free from offence,
blameless and without guilt.
10   Yet God finds occasions to put me in the wrong ^note
and counts me his enemy;
11   he puts my feet in the stocks
and keeps a close watch on all I do.’


12   Well, this is my answer: You are wrong.
God is greater than man;
13   why then plead your case with him?
for no one can answer his arguments.
14   Indeed, once God has spoken
he does not speak a second time to confirm it.
15   In dreams, in visions of the night,
when deepest sleep falls upon men,
16   while they sleep on their beds, God makes them listen,
and his correction strikes them with terror.
17   To turn a man from reckless conduct,
to check the pride ^note of mortal man,
18   at the edge of the pit he holds him back alive
and stops him from crossing the river of death.
19   Or again, man learns his lesson on a bed of pain,
tormented by a ceaseless ague in his bones;
20   he turns from his food with loathing
and has no relish for the choicest meats;
21   his flesh hangs loose upon him,
his bones are loosened and out of joint,
22   his soul draws near to the pit,

Speeches of Elihu
his life to the ministers of death.
23   Yet if an angel, one of thousands, stands by him,
a mediator between him and God,
to expound what he has done right
and to secure mortal man his due; ^note
24   if he speaks in the man's favour and says, ‘Reprieve ^note him,
let him not go down to the pit, I have the price of his release’;
25   then that man will grow sturdier ^note than he was in youth,
he will return to the days of his prime.
26   If he entreats God to show him favour,
to let him see his face and shout for joy; ^note
27   if he declares before all men, ‘I have sinned,
turned right into wrong and thought nothing of it’;
28   then he saves himself from going down to the pit,
he lives and sees the light.
29   All these things God may do to a man,
again and yet again,
30   bringing him back from the pit
to enjoy the full light of life.


31   Listen, Job, and attend to me;
be silent, and I myself will speak.
32   If you have any arguments, answer me;
speak, and I would gladly find you proved right;
33   but if you have none, listen to me:
keep silence, and I will teach you wisdom.

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