Elihu Vindicates God’s Justice

1Then Elihu continued and said,

2“Hear my words, you wise men,

And listen to me, you who know.

3For the ear tests words

As the palate tastes food.

4Let us choose for ourselves what is right;

Let us know among ourselves what is good.

5For Job has said, ‘I am righteous,

But God has taken away my right;

6Should I lie concerning my right?

My wound is incurable, though I am without transgression.’

7What man is like Job,

Who drinks up derision like water,

8Who goes in company with the workers of iniquity,

And walks with wicked men?

9For he has said, ‘It profits a man nothing

When he is pleased with God.’

10“Therefore, listen to me, you men of understanding.

Far be it from God to do wickedness,

And from the Almighty to do wrong.

11For He pays a man according to his work,

And makes him find it according to his way.

12Surely, God will not act wickedly,

And the Almighty will not pervert justice.

13Who gave Him authority over the earth?

And who has laid on Him the whole world?

14If He should determine to do so,

If He should gather to Himself His spirit and His breath,

15All flesh would perish together,

And man would return to dust.

16“But if you have understanding, hear this;

Listen to the sound of my words.

17Shall one who hates justice rule?

And will you condemn the righteous mighty One,

18Who says to a king, ‘Worthless one,’

To nobles, ‘Wicked ones’;

19Who shows no partiality to princes

Nor regards the rich above the poor,

For they all are the work of His hands?

20In a moment they die, and at midnight

People are shaken and pass away,

And the mighty are taken away without a hand.

21“For His eyes are upon the ways of a man,

And He sees all his steps.

22There is no darkness or deep shadow

Where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.

23For He does not need to consider a man further,

That he should go before God in judgment.

24He breaks in pieces mighty men without inquiry,

And sets others in their place.

25Therefore He knows their works,

And He overthrows them in the night,

And they are crushed.

26He strikes them like the wicked

In a public place,

27Because they turned aside from following Him,

And had no regard for any of His ways;

28So that they caused the cry of the poor to come to Him,

And that He might hear the cry of the afflicted—

29When He keeps quiet, who then can condemn?

And when He hides His face, who then can behold Him,

That is, in regard to both nation and man?—

30So that godless men would not rule

Nor be snares of the people.

31“For has anyone said to God,

‘I have borne chastisement;

I will not offend anymore;

32Teach me what I do not see;

If I have done iniquity,

I will not do it again’?

33Shall He recompense on your terms, because you have rejected it?

For you must choose, and not I;

Therefore declare what you know.

34Men of understanding will say to me,

And a wise man who hears me,

35‘Job speaks without knowledge,

And his words are without wisdom.

36Job ought to be tried to the limit,

Because he answers like wicked men.

37For he adds rebellion to his sin;

He claps his hands among us,

And multiplies his words against God.’ ”

Elihu Sharply Reproves Job

1Then Elihu continued and said,

2“Do you think this is according to justice?

Do you say, ‘My righteousness is more than God’s’?

3For you say, ‘What advantage will it be to You?

What profit will I have, more than if I had sinned?’

4I will answer you,

And your friends with you.

5Look at the heavens and see;

And behold the clouds—they are higher than you.

6If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against Him?

And if your transgressions are many, what do you do to Him?

7If you are righteous, what do you give to Him,

Or what does He receive from your hand?

8Your wickedness is for a man like yourself,

And your righteousness is for a son of man.

9“Because of the multitude of oppressions they cry out;

They cry for help because of the arm of the mighty.

10But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker,

Who gives songs in the night,

11Who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth

And makes us wiser than the birds of the heavens?’

12There they cry out, but He does not answer

Because of the pride of evil men.

13Surely God will not listen to an empty cry,

Nor will the Almighty regard it.

14How much less when you say you do not behold Him,

The case is before Him, and you must wait for Him!

15And now, because He has not visited in His anger,

Nor has He acknowledged transgression well,

16So Job opens his mouth emptily;

He multiplies words without knowledge.”

Elihu Speaks of God’s Dealings with Men

1Then Elihu continued and said,

2“Wait for me a little, and I will show you

That there is yet more to be said in God’s behalf.

3I will fetch my knowledge from afar,

And I will ascribe righteousness to my Maker.

4For truly my words are not false;

One who is perfect in knowledge is with you.

5Behold, God is mighty but does not despise any;

He is mighty in strength of understanding.

6He does not keep the wicked alive,

But gives justice to the afflicted.

7He does not withdraw His eyes from the righteous;

But with kings on the throne

He has seated them forever, and they are exalted.

8And if they are bound in fetters,

And are caught in the cords of affliction,

9Then He declares to them their work

And their transgressions, that they have magnified themselves.

10He opens their ear to instruction,

And commands that they return from evil.

11If they hear and serve Him,

They will end their days in prosperity

And their years in pleasures.

12But if they do not hear, they shall perish by the sword

And they will die without knowledge.

13But the godless in heart lay up anger;

They do not cry for help when He binds them.

14They die in youth,

And their life perishes among the cult prostitutes.

15He delivers the afflicted in their affliction,

And opens their ear in time of oppression.

16Then indeed, He enticed you from the mouth of distress,

Instead of it, a broad place with no constraint;

And that which was set on your table was full of fatness.

17“But you were full of judgment on the wicked;

Judgment and justice take hold of you.

18Beware that wrath does not entice you to scoffing;

And do not let the greatness of the ransom turn you aside.

19Will your riches keep you from distress,

Or all the forces of your strength?

20Do not long for the night,

When people vanish in their place.

21Be careful, do not turn to evil,

For you have preferred this to affliction.

22Behold, God is exalted in His power;

Who is a teacher like Him?

23Who has appointed Him His way,

And who has said, ‘You have done wrong’?

24“Remember that you should exalt His work,

Of which men have sung.

25All men have seen it;

Man beholds from afar.

26Behold, God is exalted, and we do not know Him;

The number of His years is unsearchable.

27For He draws up the drops of water,

They distill rain from the mist,

28Which the clouds pour down,

They drip upon man abundantly.

29Can anyone understand the spreading of the clouds,

The thundering of His pavilion?

30Behold, He spreads His lightning about Him,

And He covers the depths of the sea.

31For by these He judges peoples;

He gives food in abundance.

32He covers His hands with the lightning,

And commands it to strike the mark.

33Its noise declares His presence;

The cattle also, concerning what is coming up.

Paul’s Apostolic Ministry

1Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart, 2but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. 3And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, 4in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake. 6For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

7But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; 8we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; 9persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. 11For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12So death works in us, but life in you.

PSALM 44

Former Deliverances and Present Troubles.

For the choir director. A Maskil of the sons of Korah.

1O God, we have heard with our ears,

Our fathers have told us

The work that You did in their days,

In the days of old.

2You with Your own hand drove out the nations;

Then You planted them;

You afflicted the peoples,

Then You spread them abroad.

3For by their own sword they did not possess the land,

And their own arm did not save them,

But Your right hand and Your arm and the light of Your presence,

For You favored them.

4You are my King, O God;

Command victories for Jacob.

5Through You we will push back our adversaries;

Through Your name we will trample down those who rise up against us.

6For I will not trust in my bow,

Nor will my sword save me.

7But You have saved us from our adversaries,

And You have put to shame those who hate us.

8In God we have boasted all day long,

And we will give thanks to Your name forever. Selah.

10Drive out the scoffer, and contention will go out,

Even strife and dishonor will cease.

11He who loves purity of heart

And whose speech is gracious, the king is his friend.

12The eyes of the Lord preserve knowledge,

But He overthrows the words of the treacherous man.