Job 34
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Moreover Elihu answered and said,
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Hear my words, you wise men; And give ear to me, you that have knowledge.
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For the ear tries words, As the palate tastes food.
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Let us choose for us that which is right: Let us know among ourselves what is good.
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For Job has said, I am righteous, And God has taken away my right:
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Notwithstanding my right I am [accounted] a liar; My wound is incurable, [though I
am] without transgression.
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What man is like Job, Who drinks up scoffing like water,
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Who goes in company with the workers of iniquity, And walks with wicked men?
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For he has said, It profits a man nothing That he should delight himself with God.
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Therefore hearken to me, you men of understanding: Far be it from God, that he should
do wickedness, And from the Almighty, that he should commit iniquity.
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For the work of a man will he render to him, And cause every man to find according
to his ways.
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Yea, of a surety, God will not do wickedly, Neither will the Almighty pervert justice.
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Who gave him a charge over the earth? Or who has disposed the whole world?
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If he set his heart upon himself, [If] he gather to himself his spirit and his breath;
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All flesh shall perish together, And man shall turn again to dust.
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If now [you have] understanding, hear this: Hearken to the voice of my words.
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Shall even one that hates justice govern? And will you condemn him whom is righteous
[and] mighty?-
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[Him] that says to a king, [You are] vile, [Or] to nobles, [You are] wicked;
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That respects not the persons of princes, Nor regards the rich more than the poor;
For they all are the work of his hands.
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In a moment they die, even at midnight; The people are shaken and pass away, And the
mighty are taken away without hand.
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For his eyes are upon the ways of a man, And he sees all his goings.
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There is no darkness, nor thick gloom, Where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.
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For he needs not further to consider a man, That he should go before God in judgment.
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He breaks in pieces mighty men [in ways] past finding out, And sets others in
their stead.
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Therefore he takes knowledge of their works; And he overturns them in the night, so
that they are destroyed.
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He strikes them as wicked men In the open sight of others;
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Because they turned aside from following him, And would not have regard in any of
his ways:
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So that they caused the cry of the poor to come to him, And he heard the cry of the
afflicted.
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When he gives quietness, who then can condemn? And when he hides his face, who then
can behold him? Alike whether [it be done] to a nation, or to a man:
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That the godless man reign not, That there be none to ensnare the people.
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For has any said to God, I have borne [chastisement], I will not offend [any more]:
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That which I see not teach you me: If I have done iniquity, I will do it no more?
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Shall his recompense be as you will, that you refuse it? For you must choose,
and not I: Therefore speak what you know.
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Men of understanding will say to me, Yea, every wise man that hears me:
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Job speaks without knowledge, And his words are without wisdom.
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Would that Job were tried to the end, Because of his answering like wicked men.
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For he adds rebellion to his sin; He claps his hands among us, And multiplies his
words against God.