1   Then Elihu went on to say:

2   Mark my words, you wise men;
you men of long experience, listen to me;
3   for the ear tests what is spoken
as the palate savours food.
4   Let us then examine for ourselves what is right;
let us together establish the true good.
5   Job has said, ‘I am innocent,
but God has deprived me of justice,
6   he has falsified ^note my case;
my state is desperate, yet I have done no wrong.’
7   Was there ever a man like Job
with his thirst for irreverent talk,
8   choosing bad company to share his journeys,

Speeches of Elihu
a fellow-traveller with wicked men?
9   For he says that it brings a man no profit
to find favour with God.
10   But listen to me, you men of good sense.
  Far be it from God to do evil
  or the Almighty to play false!
11   For he pays a man according to his work
and sees that he gets what his conduct deserves.
12   The truth is, God does no wrong,
the Almighty does not pervert justice.
13   Who committed the earth to his keeping?
Who but he established the whole world?
14   If he were to turn his thoughts inwards
and recall his life-giving spirit,
15   all that lives would perish on the instant,
and man return again to dust.


16   Now Job, if you have the wit, consider this;
listen to the words I speak.
17   Can it be that a hater of justice holds the reins?
Do you disparage a sovereign whose rule is so fair,
18   who will say to a prince, ‘You scoundrel’,
and call his magnates blackguards to their faces;
19   who does not show special favour to those in office
and thinks no more of rich than of poor?
All alike are God's creatures,
20   who may die in a moment, in the middle of the night;
at his touch the rich are no more,
and the mighty vanish though no hand is laid on them.
21   His eyes are on the ways of men,
and he sees every step they take;
22   there is nowhere so dark, so deep in shadow,
that wrongdoers may hide from him.
25   Therefore he repudiates all that they do;
he turns on them in the night, and they are crushed.
23   There are no appointed days for men
to appear before God for judgement.
24   He holds no inquiry, but breaks the powerful
and sets up others in their place.
26    ^note For their crimes he strikes them down ^note
and makes them disgorge their bloated wealth, ^note
27   because they have ceased to obey him

Speeches of Elihu
and pay no heed to his ways.
28   Then the cry of the poor reaches his ears,
and he hears the cry of the distressed.
29    30   [Even if he is silent, who can condemn him?
If he looks away, who can find fault?
What though he makes a godless man king
over a stubborn ^note nation and all its people?]


31   But suppose you were to say to God,
‘I have overstepped the mark; I will do no more ^note mischief.
32   Vile wretch that I am, be thou my guide;
whatever wrong I have done, I will do wrong no more.’
33   Will he, at these words, condone your rejection of him?
It is for you to decide, not me:
but what can you answer?
34   Men of good sense will say,
any intelligent hearer will tell me,
35   ‘Job talks with no knowledge,
and there is no sense in what he says.
36   If only Job could be put to the test once and for all
for answers that are meant to make mischief ^note!
37   He is a sinner and a rebel as well ^note
with his endless ranting against God.’

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