[1] Then Elihu answered and said:
[2] “Hear my words, you wise men, and give ear to me, you who know;
[3] “for the ear tests words as the palate tastes food.
[4] “Let us choose what is right; let us know among ourselves what is good.
[5] “For Job has said, ‘I am in the right, and God has taken away my right;
[6] “‘in spite of my right I am counted a liar; my wound is incurable, though I am without transgression.’
[7] “What man is like Job, who drinks up scoffing like water,
[8] “who travels in company with evildoers and walks with wicked men?
[9] “For he has said, ‘It profits a man nothing that he should take delight in God.’
[10] “Therefore, hear me, you men of understanding: far be it from God that he should do wickedness, and from the Almighty that he should do wrong.
[11] “For according to the work of a man he will repay him, and according to his ways he will make it befall him.
[12] “Of a truth, God will not do wickedly, and the Almighty will not pervert justice.
[13] “Who gave him charge over the earth, and who laid on him the whole world?
[14] “If he should set his heart to it and gather to himself his spirit and his breath,
[15] “all flesh would perish together, and man would return to dust.
[16] “If you have understanding, hear this; listen to what I say.
[17] “Shall one who hates justice govern? Will you condemn him who is righteous and mighty,
[18] “who says to a king, ‘Worthless one,’ and to nobles, ‘Wicked man,’
[19] “who shows no partiality to princes, nor regards the rich more than the poor, for they are all the work of his hands?
[20] “In a moment they die; at midnight the people are shaken and pass away, and the mighty are taken away by no human hand.
[21] “For his eyes are on the ways of a man, and he sees all his steps.
[22] “There is no gloom or deep darkness where evildoers may hide themselves.
[23] “For God has no need to consider a man further, that he should go before God in judgment.
[24] “He shatters the mighty without investigation and sets others in their place.
[25] “Thus, knowing their works, he overturns them in the night, and they are crushed.
[26] “He strikes them for their wickedness in a place for all to see,
[27] “because they turned aside from following him and had no regard for any of his ways,
[28] “so that they caused the cry of the poor to come to him, and he heard the cry of the afflicted—
[29] “When he is quiet, who can condemn? When he hides his face, who can behold him, whether it be a nation or a man?—
[30] “that a godless man should not reign, that he should not ensnare the people.
[31] “For has anyone said to God, ‘I have borne punishment; I will not offend any more;
[32] “‘teach me what I do not see; if I have done iniquity, I will do it no more’?
[33] “Will he then make repayment to suit you, because you reject it? For you must choose, and not I; therefore declare what you know.
[34] “Men of understanding will say to me, and the wise man who hears me will say:
[35] “‘Job speaks without knowledge; his words are without insight.’
[36] “Would that Job were tried to the end, because he answers like wicked men.
[37] “For he adds rebellion to his sin; he claps his hands among us and multiplies his words against God.”