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34:1  Then Elihu answered and said:
34:2  Hear my discourse, you that are wise; you that have knowledge, listen to me!
34:3  For the ear tests words, as the palate tastes food.
34:4  Let us choose what is right; let us determine among ourselves what is good.
34:5  For Job has said, “I am innocent, but God has taken away what is my right.
34:6  I declare the judgment on me to be a lie; my arrow-wound is incurable, sinless though I am.”
34:7  What man is like Job? He drinks in blasphemies like water,
34:8  Keeps company with evildoers and goes along with the wicked,
34:9  When he says, “There is no profit in pleasing God.”
34:10  Therefore, you that have understanding, hear me: far be it from God to do wickedness; far from the Almighty to do wrong!
34:11  Rather, he requites mortals for their conduct, and brings home to them their way of life.
34:12  Surely, God cannot act wickedly, the Almighty cannot pervert justice.
34:13  Who gave him charge over the earth, or who set all the world in its place?
34:14  If he were to set his mind to it, gather to himself his spirit and breath,
34:15  All flesh would perish together, and mortals return to dust.
34:16  Now you—understand, hear this! Listen to the words I speak!
34:17  Can an enemy of justice be in control, will you condemn the supreme Just One,
34:18  Who says to a king, “You are worthless!” and to nobles, “You are wicked!”
34:19  Who neither favors the person of princes, nor respects the rich more than the poor? For they are all the work of his hands;
34:20  in a moment they die, even at midnight. People are shaken, and pass away, the powerful are removed without lifting a hand;
34:21  For his eyes are upon our ways, and all our steps he sees.
34:22  There is no darkness so dense that evildoers can hide in it.
34:23  For no one has God set a time to come before him in judgment.
34:24  Without inquiry he shatters the mighty, and appoints others in their place,
34:25  Thus he discerns their works; overnight they are crushed.
34:26  Where the wicked are, he strikes them, in a place where all can see,
34:27  Because they turned away from him and did not understand his ways at all:
34:28  And made the cry of the poor reach him, so that he heard the cry of the afflicted.
34:29  If he is silent, who then can condemn? If he hides his face, who then can behold him, whether nation or individual?
34:30  Let an impious man not rule, nor those who ensnare their people.
34:31  Should anyone say to God, “I accept my punishment; I will offend no more;
34:32  What I cannot see, teach me: if I have done wrong, I will do so no more,”
34:33  Would you then say that God must punish, when you are disdainful? It is you who must choose, not I; speak, therefore, what you know.
34:34  Those who understand will say to me, all the wise who hear my views:
34:35  “Job speaks without knowledge, his words make no sense.
34:36  Let Job be tested to the limit, since his answers are those of the impious;
34:37  For he is adding rebellion to his sin by brushing off our arguments and addressing many words to God.”