Job 34  Living Bible

34 Elihu continued:

² “Listen to me, you wise men. ³ We can choose the sounds we want to listen to; we can choose the taste we want in food, ⁴ and we should choose to follow what is right. But first of all we must define among ourselves what is good. ⁵ For Job has said, ‘I am innocent, but God says I’m not. ⁶ I am called a liar, even though I am innocent. I am horribly punished, even though I have not sinned.’

^7-8 “Who else is as arrogant as Job? He must have spent much time with evil men, ⁹ for he said, ‘Why waste time trying to please God?’

¹⁰ “Listen to me, you with understanding. Surely everyone knows that God doesn’t sin! ¹¹ Rather, he punishes the sinners. ¹² There is no truer statement than this: God is never wicked or unjust. ¹³ He alone has authority over the earth and dispenses justice for the world. ¹⁴ If God were to withdraw his Spirit, ¹⁵ all life would disappear and mankind would turn again to dust.

¹⁶ “Listen now and try to understand. ¹⁷ Could God govern if he hated justice? Are you going to condemn the Almighty Judge? ¹⁸ Are you going to condemn this God who says to kings and nobles, ‘You are wicked and unjust’? ¹⁹ For he doesn’t care how great a man may be, and doesn’t pay any more attention to the rich than to the poor. He made them all. ²⁰ In a moment they die, and at midnight great and small shall suddenly pass away, removed by no human hand.

²¹ “For God carefully watches the goings on of all mankind; he sees them all. ²² No darkness is thick enough to hide evil men from his eyes, ²³ so there is no need to wait for some great crime before a man is called before God in judgment. ²⁴ Without making a big issue over it, God simply shatters the greatest of men and puts others in their places. ²⁵ He watches what they do and in a single night he overturns them, destroying them, ²⁶ or openly strikes them down as wicked men. ²⁷ For they turned aside from following him, ²⁸ causing the cry of the poor to come to the attention of God. Yes, he hears the cries of those being oppressed. ^29-30 Yet when he chooses not to speak, who can criticize? Again, he may prevent a vile man from ruling, thus saving a nation from ruin, and he can depose an entire nation just as easily.

³¹ “Why don’t people exclaim to their God, ‘We have sinned, but we will stop,’ ³² or ‘We know not what evil we have done; only tell us, and we will cease at once’?

³³ “Must God tailor his justice to your demands? Must he change the order of the universe to suit your whims? The answer must be obvious even to you! ^34-35 Anyone even half bright will agree with me that you, Job, are speaking like a fool. ³⁶ You should be given the maximum penalty for the wicked way you have talked about God. ³⁷ For now you have added rebellion, arrogance, and blasphemy to your other sins.”