¹Furthermore Elihu continued speaking and said,

²“You who are wise,

Hear my words,

And you who are knowledgeable,

Give ear to me.

³For the ear puts words to the test,

As the palate tastes that which is to be eaten.

⁴Let us choose justice for ourselves;

Let us find out among ourselves what is good.

⁵For Job has said,

‘I am just,

But God has taken away my justice.

⁶Do I lie concerning my justice?

The arrow with which I have been struck is grievous,

Though I am without transgression.’

⁷What man is like Job?

He drinks mockery like water,

⁸And he travels in the company of perpetrators of iniquity,

And he walks with wicked men.

⁹For he has said,

‘It does not profit a man

To take delight in God.’

¹⁰Therefore listen to me, you men of understanding.

Far be God from wickedness,

And the Almighty from iniquity.

¹¹For he repays a man his work,

And according to the way of a man,

So he requites him.

¹²It is indeed certain that God does not act wickedly,

And that the Almighty does not pervert justice.

¹³Who gave him charge over the earth?

And who appointed him over the whole world?

¹⁴If he were to consider only himself,

And to gather to himself his spirit and his breath,

¹⁵All flesh would expire together,

And man would return to dust.

¹⁶Now if you have understanding,

Listen to this.

Give ear to the sound of my words.

¹⁷Can one who hates justice make binding laws?

Or will you condemn the great just one?

¹⁸Is it fitting to say to a king,

‘You are useless’,

Or to princes,

‘You are wicked’?

¹⁹How much less to him who does not show partiality to nobles,

And who does not favour the opulent above the poor?

For all of them are the work of his hands.

²⁰In a moment, they die,

And in the middle of the night a people is shaken,

And they pass away.

A mighty people is removed,

But not by hand.

²¹For his eyes are on the ways of man,

And he sees all his steps.

²²There is no darkness,

And there is no shadow of death,

For the perpetrators of iniquity to hide there.

²³For he no longer makes charges against man

For him to enter into a judicial process with God;

²⁴He breaks the mighty in an unsearchable way

And sets up others in their place.

²⁵So then, he recognizes their works

And overturns them at night,

And they are broken in pieces.

²⁶He strikes them on account of their wicked deeds

In a place where people can see it,

²⁷Because they turned away from following him,

And they did not prudently attend to any of his ways,

²⁸So bringing the cry of the poor to him,

So that he heard the cry of the needy.

²⁹When he imposes quietness,

Who can act wickedly?

And when he hides his face,

Who can see him?

And whether it is against a people or whether against a man,

It is the same.

³⁰He acts so that the profane man cannot reign,

Giving protection from snares targeting the people.

³¹For does one say to God,

‘I have suffered punishment;

I will no longer act perversely.

³²Teach me what I do not see;

If I have committed iniquity,

I will do so no more’?

³³Should he repay you for it on your terms,

And say,

‘It does not matter if you reject one thing or choose another,

And I have no say?

So say what you know.’

³⁴Let men of understanding speak to me,

And let the wise man listen to me.

³⁵Job has not spoken knowledgeably,

And his words were not prudent.

³⁶My desire is that Job should be tested to the limit,

Because his answers were in line with those of iniquitous men.

³⁷For he has added transgression to his sin;

He has clapped his hands in our company

And spoken at length against God.”