Job 34
Elihu calls Job a rotten sinner
We know truth when we hear it
1Elihu continued talking. He said:2Listen to me, you educated men.
I want you to hear what I have to say.
3Your ears will taste the words
Like your tongue will taste food.
4We can tell what is tasty and true.
We can do that ourselves.
5Job said: “I didn’t do anything wrong. [1]
God took away my right to due process. [2]
6But they call me a liar [3] instead of righteous.
I’m innocent but fatally wounded.” [4]
7Can anyone badmouth a person like Job does?
He juices himself up on mockery
Like a thirsty soul gulps water.
8He hangs out with bad company
And takes long walks with the wicked.
9This is the man who said,
“There’s no value in our religion,
No reward for serving God.” [5]
God doesn’t twist justice
10So listen to me, you well-educated men.God is not the bad guy.
Almighty God is not wicked
And he’s not wrong.
11What we do affects what he does to us.
He gives people what they deserve.
12God doesn’t do things that are wrong.
He doesn’t twist justice, either.
13Who made him king of the world?
Who put him in charge?
14I can tell you this much,
If he recalled his spirit we’d be in trouble.
There would go the air we breathe.
15All creatures would die together.
All humans would dissolve to dust.
God is a fair judge
16If you’re educated, listen closely.I want you to hear this.
17Now come on,
Can a ruler govern effectively while hating justice?
Why do you belittle someone righteous and powerful.
18I’m talking about that righteous one
Who calls a bad king bad,
And a wicked prince wicked.
19He won’t give nobles special treatment
Or treat the rich better than the poor.
Why should he? He made them all.
20One moment they’re alive.
The next moment they’re not.
They die quickly,
Like the stroke of midnight.
And no one on earth has anything to do with it.
God doesn’t give us a trial
21God watches his human creations.He sees what they do.
22There’s no way to hide from God.
Evil people aren’t going to find a night dark enough
To hide their wickedness from him.
23He doesn’t need to set a court date to try someone.
They don’t get a trial before their judgment day.
24He doesn’t need to conduct an investigation.
He strikes down powerful leaders without notice
And gives their jobs to others.
25He already knows what they did
And he gives them what they deserve.
He crushes them overnight.
One day powerful, the next day not.
26He strikes them down for their bad behavior,
While others stand and watch.
27Those evil people turned their backs on God,
And had no regrets in doing it.
28These bad folks hurt the poor,
Who cried out to God for help.
God heard those prayers.
29When God is silent, who can condemn him?
When he hides from us, who can see him?
Yet he rules the nations and their people.
30He rules us so godless people won’t
And so they can’t hurt others.
”Job, it’s time to confess”
31Someone needs to pray,“Dear God, I feel the pain and punishment.
I quit. I won’t sin against you anymore.
32Help me discover what I can’t see.
If there are sins I’ve committed
That I didn’t know were sinful,
I won’t do them anymore.”
33Do you think you can tell God what to do
After you’ve turned your back on him?
What happens next is up to you, not me.
So, tell us what you plan to do.
34Any educated person,
And especially anyone listening to me
Would say this,
35“Job doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
When he speaks,
Nothing good comes out.
36He needs God to turn up the pressure.
For when Job opens his mouth,
Out come the words of the wicked.
37As if his sins of the past aren’t bad enough,
He condemns God right in front of us.
He badmouths God over and over."
Footnotes
134:5
Job 13:18.
234:5
Job 27:2.
334:6
Job 31:5 is a stretch. But there’s no direct statement of Job that seems to match this.
434:6
The phrase is more literally, “The arrow fatally wounded me, though I didn’t sin.” The presumption here seems to be that God fired the arrow that will kill an innocent man. That makes God the bad guy.
534:9
Job said it doesn’t matter if a person is innocent or guilty because God kills them both (Job 9:22). And he asked why wicked people get to live so long (Job 21:7).
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