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34:1  Elihu continued to speak to Job and his friends,
34:2  “Listen to my words, you wise men. Open your ears to me, you intelligent men.
34:3  The ear tests words like the tongue tastes food.
34:4  Let’s decide for ourselves what is right and agree among ourselves as to what is good,
34:5  because Job has said, ‘I’m righteous, but El has taken away my rights.
34:6  I’m considered a liar in spite of my rights. I’ve been wounded by a deadly arrow, though I haven’t been disobedient.’
34:7  What person is like Job, who drinks scorn like water,
34:8  who travels with troublemakers and associates with evil people?
34:9  He says, ‘It doesn’t do any good to try to please Elohim.’
34:10  “You people who have understanding, listen to me. It is unthinkable that El would ever do evil or that Shadday would ever do wicked things.
34:11  God will repay humanity for what it has done and will give each person what he deserves.
34:12  Certainly, El will never do anything evil, and Shadday will never pervert justice.
34:13  Who put him in charge of the earth? Who appointed him to be over the whole world?
34:14  If he thought only of himself and withdrew his Spirit and his breath,
34:15  all living beings would die together, and humanity would return to dust.
34:16  “If you understand, listen to this. Open your ears to my words!
34:17  Should anyone who hates justice be allowed to govern? Will you condemn the one who is righteous and mighty?
34:18  Should anyone even say to a king, ‘You good-for-nothing scoundrel!’ or to nobles, ‘You wicked people!’
34:19  The one who is righteous and mighty does not grant special favors to princes or prefer important people over poor people because his hands made them all.
34:20  They die suddenly in the middle of the night. People have seizures and pass away. Mighty people are taken away but not by human hands.
34:21  God’s eyes are on a person’s ways. He sees all his steps.
34:22  There’s no darkness or deep shadow where troublemakers can hide.
34:23  He doesn’t have to set a time for a person in order to bring him to divine judgment.
34:24  He breaks mighty people into pieces without examining them and puts others in their places.
34:25  He knows what they do, so he overthrows them at night, and they’re crushed.
34:26  In return for their evil, he strikes them in public,
34:27  because they turned away from following him and didn’t consider any of his ways.
34:28  They forced the poor to cry out to him, and he hears the cry of those who suffer.
34:29  If he keeps quiet, who can condemn him? If he hides his face, who can see him whether it is a nation or a single person?
34:30  He does this so that godless people cannot rule and so that they cannot trap people.
34:31  “But suppose such a person says to El, ‘I am guilty, I will stop my immoral behavior.
34:32  Teach me what I cannot see. If I’ve done wrong, I won’t do it again.’
34:33  Should El reward you on your own terms since you have rejected his? You must choose, not I. Tell me what you know. Speak!
34:34  “People of understanding, the wise people who listen to me, will say,
34:35  ‘Job speaks without knowledge. His words show no insight.’
34:36  “Ab, let Job be thoroughly tested for giving answers like wicked people do.
34:37  He adds disobedience to his sin. He claps his hands to insult us. He multiplies his words against El.”