Job 34-38
Christian Standard Bible
34 Then Elihu continued,[a] saying:
2 Hear my words, you wise ones,
and listen to me, you knowledgeable ones.
3 Doesn’t the ear test words
as the palate tastes food?
4 Let us judge for ourselves what is right;
let us decide together what is good.
5 For Job has declared, “I am righteous,
yet God has deprived me of justice.(A)
6 Would I lie about my case?(B)
My wound[b] is incurable,
though I am without transgression.”
7 What man is like Job?
He drinks derision(C) like water.
8 He keeps company with evildoers
and walks with wicked men.
9 For he has said, “A man gains nothing
when he becomes God’s friend.”(D)
10 Therefore listen to me, you men of understanding.
It is impossible for God to do wrong,
and for the Almighty to act unjustly.(E)
11 For he repays(F) a person according to his deeds,
and he gives him what his conduct deserves.[c]
12 Indeed, it is true that God does not act wickedly
and the Almighty does not pervert justice.(G)
13 Who gave him authority over the earth?
Who put him in charge of the entire world?(H)
14 If he put his mind to it
and withdrew the spirit(I) and breath he gave,
15 every living thing would perish together
and mankind would return to the dust.(J)
16 If you have understanding, hear this;
listen to what I have to say.
17 Could one who hates justice govern the world?
Will you condemn the mighty Righteous One,(K)
18 who says to a king, “Worthless man!”
and to nobles, “Wicked men!”?(L)
19 God is not partial(M) to princes
and does not favor the rich over the poor,
for they are all the work of his hands.
20 They die suddenly in the middle of the night;
people shudder, then pass away.
Even the mighty are removed without effort.
21 For his eyes watch over a man’s ways,
and he observes all his steps.(N)
22 There is no darkness, no deep darkness,
where evildoers can hide.(O)
23 God does not need to examine a person further,
that one should[d] approach him in court.
24 He shatters the mighty without an investigation
and sets others in their place.(P)
25 Therefore, he recognizes their deeds(Q)
and overthrows them by night, and they are crushed.
26 In full view of the public,[e]
he strikes them for their wickedness,
27 because they turned aside from following him
and did not understand any of his ways
28 but caused the poor to cry out to him,
and he heard the outcry of the needy.(R)
29 But when God is silent, who can declare him guilty?
When he hides his face, who can see him?
Yet he watches over both individuals and nations,
30 so that godless men should not rule
or ensnare the people.
31 Suppose someone says to God,
“I have endured my punishment;
I will no longer act wickedly.
32 Teach me what I cannot see;
if I have done wrong, I won’t do it again.”
33 Should God repay you on your terms
when you have rejected his?
You must choose, not I!
So declare what you know.
34 Reasonable men will say to me,
along with the wise men who hear me,
35 “Job speaks without knowledge;(S)
his words are without insight.”
36 If only Job were tested to the limit,
because his answers are like those of wicked men.
37 For he adds rebellion to his sin;
he scornfully claps(T) in our presence,
while multiplying(U) his words against God.
35 Then Elihu continued, saying:
2 Do you think it is just when you say,
“I am righteous before God”?
3 For you ask, “What does it profit you,[f]
and what benefit comes to me, if I do not sin?” (V)
4 I will answer you
and your friends with you.
5 Look at the heavens and see;
gaze at the clouds high above you.
6 If you sin, how does it affect God?
If you multiply your transgressions, what does it do to him?
7 If you are righteous, what do you give him,
or what does he receive from your hand?(W)
8 Your wickedness affects a person like yourself,
and your righteousness, a son of man.[g]
9 People cry out because of severe oppression;
they shout for help because of the power of the mighty.(X)
10 But no one asks, “Where is God my Maker,(Y)
who provides us with songs in the night,(Z)
11 who gives us more understanding than the animals of the earth
and makes us wiser than the birds of the sky?” (AA)
12 There they cry out, but he does not answer,
because of the pride of evil people.(AB)
13 Indeed, God does not listen to empty cries,
and the Almighty does not take note of it—
14 how much less when[h] you complain[i]
that you do not see him,
that your case(AC) is before him
and you are waiting(AD) for him.
15 But now, because God’s anger does not punish
and he does not pay attention to transgression,[j]
16 Job opens his mouth in vain
and multiplies words without knowledge.(AE)
36 Then Elihu continued, saying:
2 Be patient with me a little longer, and I will inform you,
for there is still more to be said on God’s behalf.
3 I will get my knowledge from a distant place
and ascribe justice to my Maker.
4 Indeed, my words are not false;
one who has complete knowledge is with you.
5 Yes, God is mighty, but he despises no one;
he understands all things.[k](AF)
6 He does not keep the wicked alive,(AG)
but he gives justice to the oppressed.
7 He does not withdraw his gaze from the righteous,
but he seats them forever with enthroned kings,
and they are exalted.
8 If people are bound with chains
and trapped by the cords of affliction,
9 God tells them what they have done
and how arrogantly they have transgressed.
10 He opens their ears(AH) to correction
and tells them to repent from iniquity.
11 If they listen and serve him,
they will end their days in prosperity
and their years in happiness.(AI)
12 But if they do not listen,
they will cross the river of death[l]
and die without knowledge.(AJ)
13 Those who have a godless heart harbor anger;
even when God binds them, they do not cry for help.
14 They die in their youth;
their life ends among male cult prostitutes.(AK)
15 God rescues the afflicted by their affliction;
he instructs them by their torment.
16 Indeed, he lured you from the jaws[m] of distress
to a spacious and unconfined place.
Your table was spread with choice food.
17 Yet now you are obsessed with the judgment due the wicked;
judgment and justice have seized you.
18 Be careful that no one lures you with riches;[n]
do not let a large ransom[o] lead you astray.(AL)
19 Can your wealth[p] or all your physical exertion
keep you from distress?(AM)
20 Do not long for the night
when nations will disappear from their places.
21 Be careful that you do not turn to iniquity,
for that is why you have been tested by[q] affliction.
22 Look, God shows himself exalted by his power.
Who is a teacher like him?
23 Who has appointed his way for him,
and who has declared, “You have done wrong”?(AN)
24 Remember that you should praise his work,
which people have sung about.(AO)
25 All mankind has seen it;
people have looked at it from a distance.(AP)
26 Yes, God is exalted beyond our knowledge;(AQ)
the number of his years cannot be counted.(AR)
27 For he makes waterdrops evaporate;[r]
they distill the rain into its[s] mist,(AS)
28 which the clouds pour out
and shower abundantly on mankind.
29 Can anyone understand how the clouds spread out
or how the thunder roars from God’s pavilion?(AT)
30 See how he spreads his lightning(AU) around him
and covers the depths of the sea.
31 For he judges the nations with these;
he gives food in abundance.(AV)
32 He covers his hands with lightning
and commands it to hit its mark.
33 The[t] thunder declares his presence;[u]
the cattle also, the approaching storm.
37 My heart(AW) pounds at this
and leaps from my chest.[v]
2 Just listen to his thunderous voice
and the rumbling that comes from his mouth.
3 He lets it loose beneath the entire sky;
his lightning to the ends(AX) of the earth.
4 Then there comes a roaring sound;
God thunders(AY) with his majestic voice.
He does not restrain the lightning
when his rumbling voice is heard.
5 God thunders wondrously with his voice;
he does great things that we cannot comprehend.
6 For he says to the snow,(AZ) “Fall to the earth,”
and the torrential rains, his mighty torrential rains,
7 serve as his sign to all mankind,
so that all men may know his work.
8 The wild animals enter their lairs
and stay in their dens.(BA)
9 The windstorm comes from its chamber,
and the cold from the driving north winds.
10 Ice is formed by the breath of God,(BB)
and watery expanses are frozen.
11 He saturates clouds with moisture;(BC)
he scatters his lightning through them.
12 They swirl about,
turning round and round at his direction,
accomplishing everything he commands them
over the surface of the inhabited world.
13 He causes this to happen for punishment,
for his land, or for his faithful love.
14 Listen to this, Job.
Stop and consider God’s wonders.
15 Do you know how God directs his clouds
or makes their lightning flash?
16 Do you understand how the clouds float,
those wonderful works of him who has perfect knowledge?
17 You whose clothes get hot
when the south wind brings calm to the land,
18 can you help God spread out the skies
as hard as a cast metal mirror?
19 Teach us what we should say to him;(BD)
we cannot prepare our case because of our darkness.
20 Should he be told that I want to speak?
Can a man speak when he is confused?
21 Now no one can even look at the sun
after a wind has swept through and cleared the sky.
22 Out of the north he comes, shrouded in a golden glow;
awesome(BE) majesty surrounds him.
23 The Almighty—we cannot reach him—
he is exalted in power!
He will not violate justice and abundant righteousness,
24 therefore, men fear him.
He does not look favorably on any who are wise(BF) in heart.
The Lord Speaks
38 Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind.(BG) He said:
2 Who is this who obscures my counsel
with ignorant words?(BH)
3 Get ready to answer me like a man;
when I question(BI) you, you will inform me.
4 Where were you when I established(BJ) the earth?
Tell me, if you have[w] understanding.
5 Who fixed its dimensions? Certainly you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
6 What supports its foundations?
Or who laid its cornerstone
7 while the morning stars sang together
and all the sons of God(BK) shouted for joy?
8 Who enclosed the sea behind doors
when it burst from the womb,
9 when I made the clouds its garment
and total darkness its blanket,[x](BL)
10 when I determined its boundaries[y]
and put its bars and doors in place,
11 when I declared, “You may come this far, but no farther;
your proud waves stop here”?
12 Have you ever in your life commanded the morning
or assigned the dawn its place,
13 so it may seize the edges of the earth
and shake the wicked out of it?
14 The earth is changed as clay is by a seal;
its hills stand out like the folds of a garment.
15 Light[z] is withheld from the wicked,
and the arm raised in violence is broken.
16 Have you traveled to the sources of the sea
or walked in the depths of the oceans?
17 Have the gates(BM) of death been revealed to you?
Have you seen the gates of deep darkness?
18 Have you comprehended the extent of the earth?
Tell me, if you know all this.
19 Where is the road to the home of light?
Do you know where darkness lives,
20 so you can lead it back to its border?
Are you familiar with the paths to its home?
21 Don’t you know? You were already born;(BN)
you have lived so long![aa]
22 Have you entered the place where the snow is stored?
Or have you seen the storehouses of hail,(BO)
23 which I hold in reserve for times of trouble,
for the day of warfare and battle?(BP)
24 What road leads to the place where light is dispersed?[ab]
Where is the source of the east wind that spreads across the earth?
25 Who cuts a channel for the flooding rain
or clears the way for lightning,
26 to bring rain on an uninhabited land,
on a desert with no human life,[ac]
27 to satisfy the parched wasteland
and cause the grass to sprout?(BQ)
28 Does the rain have a father?
Who fathered the drops of dew?(BR)
29 Whose womb did the ice come from?
Who gave birth to the frost of heaven
30 when water becomes as hard as stone,[ad]
and the surface of the watery depths is frozen?(BS)
31 Can you fasten the chains of the Pleiades
or loosen the belt of Orion?
32 Can you bring out the constellations[ae] in their season
and lead the Bear[af] and her cubs?(BT)
33 Do you know the laws(BU) of heaven?
Can you impose its[ag] authority on earth?
34 Can you command[ah] the clouds
so that a flood of water covers you?(BV)
35 Can you send out lightning(BW) bolts, and they go?
Do they report to you, “Here we are”?
36 Who put wisdom(BX) in the heart[ai]
or gave the mind understanding?
37 Who has the wisdom to number the clouds?
Or who can tilt the water jars of heaven
38 when the dust hardens like cast metal
and the clods of dirt stick together?
39 Can you hunt prey for a lioness
or satisfy the appetite of young lions(BY)
40 when they crouch in their dens
and lie in wait within their lairs?
41 Who provides the raven’s food(BZ)
when its young cry out to God
and wander about for lack of food?
Footnotes
- 34:1 Lit answered
- 34:6 Lit arrow
- 34:11 Lit and like a path of a man, he causes him to find
- 34:23 Some emend to God has not appointed a time for man to
- 34:26 Lit In a place of spectators
- 35:3 Some emend to me
- 35:8 Or a mere mortal
- 35:14 Or how then can
- 35:14 Lit say
- 35:15 LXX, Vg; MT reads folly, or arrogance; Hb obscure
- 36:5 Lit he is mighty in strength of heart
- 36:12 Or will perish by the sword
- 36:16 Lit from a mouth of narrowness
- 36:18 Or you into mockery
- 36:18 Or bribe
- 36:19 Or cry for help
- 36:21 Or for you have preferred this to
- 36:27 Lit he draws in waterdrops
- 36:27 Or his
- 36:33 Lit His, or Its
- 36:33 Lit thunder announces concerning him or it
- 37:1 Lit from its place
- 38:4 Lit know
- 38:9 Lit swaddling clothes
- 38:10 Lit I broke my statute on it
- 38:15 Lit Their light
- 38:21 Lit born; the number of your days is great
- 38:24 Or where lightning is distributed
- 38:26 Lit no man in it
- 38:30 Lit water hides itself as the stone
- 38:32 Or Mazzaroth; Hb obscure
- 38:32 Or lead Aldebaran
- 38:33 Or God’s
- 38:34 Lit lift up your voice to
- 38:36 Or the inner self; Ps 51:6
The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.
Bible Gateway Recommends
