Job
Chapter 34
Elihu’s Second Speech
Elihu continued speaking:
Hear my words, you, who are wise; listen to me, you, who know.
The ear tests the word, as the palate tastes the food.
Let us discern what is right, learn between us what is good.
Job has said: “I am innocent, but God denies me justice
and disregards my right. Though guiltless, my wound is hopeless.”
Who is like Job, who drinks in blasphemies like water?
He keeps company with evildoers and follows the path of the wicked.
For has he not said, “It does not profit a man if he tries to please God?”
So hear me, you men of understanding, far be it from God to do evil, far from the Almighty to do wrong!
Rather, he repays man for what he has done; he gives him what his conduct deserves.
How unthinkable that God would do wrong, that the Almighty would pervert justice!
Who gave him charge over the earth? Who else laid out the whole world?
If he were to take back his spirit, to withdraw his breath to himself,
all flesh would perish together and man would return to dust.
If you have any intelligence, listen, Job, hear what I say.
Can an enemy of justice govern? Or do you condemn him who is mighty and just,
who says to kings, “You are worthless,” and to nobles, “You are wicked,”
who is impartial to princes and favors not the rich over the poor, for they are all his handiwork?
They die suddenly, even at midnight; people are shaken and pass away. Without effort, he removes a tyrant.
His eyes keep watch on human’s ways, and he sees their every step.
For him, there is no dense darkness where evildoers can hide.
He forewarns no one of the time to come before God in judgment.
He destroys the powerful without question, and replaces them with another strongman.
Because he knows their evil deeds, he turns at night and destroys them.
He punishes them for their wickedness in a judgment that humans observe.
Because they had turned away from him, ignored all his ways,
and oppressed the poor so severely that their cries of suffering reached him.
If he remains silent, who will provoke him? If he turns away, who can see him? Still, he observes both man and nation alike,
and holds back those who deceive the people.
If a wicked man says to God, “I was misguided but will offend no more.
Teach me what I do not see; if I have done wrong, I will stop doing it.”
In such a case, do you think God will punish? Speak, you who reject his decisions and think you know more than I do; tell us what you know.
Men of understanding, wise men who hear my views will say to me:
“Job speaks without knowledge; his words are without insight.
Let Job be tried to the utmost for answering as wicked men do!
To his sin, he adds rebellion by scornfully dismissing our arguments and multiplying his words against God.”
Commentaries
Elihu’s Speeches.
Job ends his defense by asking for a response from God. What will happen now? When least expected, an intruder named Elihu appears. He is an angry young man who has apparently been listening to the debate and can no longer contain himself. Irritated by what he has just heard, he interjects himself into the matter (32:19). He does so with four speeches that, although they say nothing new, reveal his conviction, his passion, and his abundant verbiage.
Elihu’s Second Speech.
After rebuking his friends, Elihu begins a lengthy defense of God’s justice and fairness (10-29). God observes everything and judges accordingly. Those who turn away from God are solely responsible for their actions (24-27). Like the friends in his initial speeches, the young man advises Job on what he should say as a sign of repentance (31f). The final verses (34-37) are as harsh, cruel, and irrelevant as anything that could have come from the mouths of the friends.