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34:1  You men are so wise, so clever; listen now to what I am saying.
34:2  You men are so wise, so clever; listen now to what I am saying.
34:3  You know good food when you taste it, but not wise words when you hear them.
34:4  It is up to us to decide the case.
34:5  Job claims that he is innocent, that God refuses to give him justice.
34:6  He asks, “How could I lie and say I am wrong? I am fatally wounded, but I am sinless.”
34:7  Have you ever seen anyone like this man Job? He never shows respect for God.
34:8  He likes the company of evil people and goes around with sinners.
34:9  He says that it never does any good to try to follow God's will.
34:10  Listen to me, you men who understand! Will Almighty God do what is wrong?
34:11  He rewards people for what they do and treats them as they deserve.
34:12  Almighty God does not do evil; he is never unjust to anyone.
34:13  Did God get his power from someone else? Did someone put him in charge of the world?
34:14  If God took back the breath of life,
34:15  then everyone living would die and turn into dust again.
34:16  Now listen to me, if you are wise.
34:17  Are you condemning the righteous God? Do you think that he hates justice?
34:18  God condemns kings and rulers when they are worthless or wicked.
34:19  He does not take the side of rulers nor favor the rich over the poor, for he created everyone.
34:20  We may suddenly die at night. God strikes us down and we perish; he kills the mighty with no effort at all.
34:21  He watches every step we take.
34:22  There is no darkness dark enough to hide a sinner from God.
34:23  God does not need to set a time for us to go and be judged by him.
34:24  He does not need an investigation to remove leaders and replace them with others.
34:25  Because he knows what they do; he overthrows them and crushes them by night.
34:26  He punishes sinners where all can see it,
34:27  because they have stopped following him and ignored all his commands.
34:28  They forced the poor to cry out to God, and he heard their calls for help.
34:29  If God decided to do nothing at all, no one could criticize him. If he hid his face, we would be helpless.
34:30  There would be nothing that nations could do to keep godless oppressors from ruling them.
34:31  Job, have you confessed your sins to God and promised not to sin again?
34:32  Have you asked God to show you your faults, and have you agreed to stop doing evil?
34:33  Since you object to what God does, can you expect him to do what you want? The decision is yours, not mine; tell us now what you think.
34:34  Any sensible person will surely agree; and the wise who hear me will say
34:35  that Job is speaking from ignorance and that nothing he says makes sense.
34:36  Think through everything that Job says; you will see that he talks like an evil man.
34:37  To his sins he adds rebellion; in front of us all he mocks God.