Then Elihu continued and said,

Hear my words, you wise men;
And you who know, give ear to me.

For the ear tries words
As the palate tastes food.

Let us choose for ourselves what is right;
Let us know among ourselves what is good.

For Job has said, I am righteous,
And God has  ¹taken away my right;

Should I lie against my right?
My arrow wound is incurable, though I am without transgression.

What man is like Job,
Who drinks up scoffing like water,

Who goes in company with the workers of iniquity
And walks with wicked men?

For he has said, It does not profit a man
To delight himself in God.

Therefore, you men of understanding, hear me:
Far be it from God that He would do evil,
And from the Almighty that He would commit iniquity.

For He will render a man's work to him
And will cause a man to find that which is according to his own way.

Indeed in all certainty God will not do evil,
And the Almighty will not pervert justice.

Who has ever put the earth in His charge?
Or who has ever set in order the whole world?

If He were to consider Himself only,
He would gather back to Himself His spirit and His breath;

All flesh would perish together,
And man would return to dust.

If then you have understanding, hear this;
Give ear to the voice of my words.

Shall one who hates justice govern?
And will you condemn the just and mighty One,

He who says to a king, You worthless one!
And to nobles, You wicked one!

He who does not respect the persons of princes,
Nor regard the rich man more than the poor,
For they are all the work of His hands?

In a moment they die, and in the middle of the night
The people are shaken, and they pass away;
And the mighty are taken away, but by no human hand.

For His eyes are upon the ways of a man,
And He sees all his steps.

There is no darkness and no 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 to God in litigation.

He breaks mighty men in pieces without inquiry
And puts others in their stead.

Hence He knows their actions,
And He overturns them in the night so that they are crushed.

He strikes them as He would evil men,
In a place where all can see;

Because they turned aside from following after Him
And would not regard any of His ways,

So that they caused the cry of the poor to come to Him,
And He heard the cry of the afflicted.

When He is silent, who can condemn Him?
When He hides His face, who can behold Him?
He does so toward a nation and toward a man alike,

That no profane man would reign, that there would be no snares for the
people.

For has anyone ever said to God,
I have borne chastisement; I will offend no more;

What I do not see teach me;
If I have committed iniquity, I will do it no more?

Should He recompense to fit you, since you have rejected it?
For you must choose, and not I.
So speak what you know.

Men of understanding will say to me,
As well as the man of wisdom who hears me,

Job has spoken without knowledge,
And his words are without insight.

I wish that Job were tried to the limit
Because of his answering like evil men.

For he adds  ¹rebellion to his sin;
Among us he  ²claps his hands
And multiplies his words against God.

Then Elihu continued and said,

Do you consider this to be just?
Do you say, My righteousness is more than God's,

So that you say, What advantage is there to  ¹me,
What do I profit, more than if I had sinned?

I will respond to you with words,
And to your companions with you.

Look unto heaven and see;
And behold the skies: They are higher than you.

If you sin, what do you accomplish against Him?
And if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to Him?

If you are righteous, what can you give to Him,
Or what does He receive from your hand?

Your wickedness affects a man like you,
And your righteousness, a son of man.

Because of the multitude of oppressions they cry out;
They cry for help because of the arm of the mighty.

But no one says, Where is God my Maker,
Who gives songs in the night,

Who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth
And makes us wiser than the birds of heaven?

There they cry, but He does not answer,
Because of the pride of evil men.

Surely God does not hear an empty cry,
And the Almighty does not regard it.

How much less when you say that you do not behold Him,
That the cause is before Him and you are waiting on Him!

But now, because He has not visited in His anger
Nor regarded such great arrogance,

Job opens his mouth in vanity;
He multiplies words without knowledge.

And Elihu added this and said,

Bear with me a little, and I will show you;
For there is more to say for God.

I will bring my knowledge from afar
And will ascribe righteousness to my Maker.

For truly my words are not false;
One perfect in  ¹knowledge is with you.

Indeed, God is mighty and does not despise;
He is mighty in strength of understanding.

He does not preserve the wicked man alive,
But gives justice to the afflicted.

He does not withdraw His eyes from the righteous;
And with kings on the throne,
He sets them forever, and they are exalted.

And if they are bound in fetters,
If they are caught in the cords of affliction,

He shows them their work
And their transgressions, that they have acted arrogantly.

He also opens their ear to instruction
And commands that they return from iniquity.

If they hear and serve Him,
They will spend their days in prosperity
And their years in pleasantness.

But if they do not hear, they will pass away by the sword
And die without knowledge.

But those who are profane in heart lay up anger;
They do not cry for help when He binds them.

They die in youth,
And their life ends among the most defiled.

He rescues the afflicted by their affliction
And opens their ear through oppression.

Indeed He allures you from the jaws of distress
Into a spacious place, where there is no constraint;
And what is upon your table is full of fatness.

But you are filled with the judgment of the wicked;
Judgment and litigation have taken hold of you.

Beware lest wrath allures you into scoffing,
And do not let the greatness of the ransom turn you aside.

Will your cry keep you from being in distress,
Or all the forces of your strength?

Do not long for the night,
When people are taken from their place.

Take heed; do not turn toward iniquity;
For you have chosen this rather than affliction.

Indeed, God is exalted in His power:
Who is a teacher like Him?

Who has appointed His way for Him?
And who says, You have done wrong?

Remember to magnify His work,
Of which men sing.

All mankind has gazed on it;
Man beholds it from afar.

Indeed, God is great, and we do not know Him;
The number of His years we also cannot search out.

For He draws up the drops of water
Which distill into rain from His mist,

Which the skies pour down
And drop upon man abundantly.

Can they indeed understand the spreading of the clouds,
The thunderings of His pavilion?

Indeed, He scatters His lightning around Him
And covers the roots of the sea.

For by these He judges the peoples;
He gives food in abundance.

He fills His hands with lightning
And commands it to strike the mark.

Its noise tells of Him;
The cattle as well tell concerning Him who is coming.