Job 34

New American Standard Bible

Elihu Vindicates God’s Justice

34 Then Elihu continued and said,

²“Hear my words, you wise men,
And listen to me, you who understand.
³For ^(A)the ear tests words
As the palate tastes food.
⁴Let us choose for ourselves what is right;
Let us understand among ourselves what is good.
⁵For Job has said, ‘^(B)I am righteous,
But ^(C)God has taken away my right;
⁶^[a]Should I lie about my right?
My ^[b]^(D)wound is incurable, though I am without wrongdoing.’
⁷What man is like Job,
Who ^(E)drinks up derision like water,
⁸Who goes ^(F)in company with the workers of injustice,
And walks with wicked people?
⁹For he has said, ‘^(G)It is of no use to a man
When he becomes friends with God.’

¹⁰“Therefore, listen to me, you men of understanding.
Far be it from God to ^(H)do evil,
And from the Almighty to do wrong.
¹¹For He repays a person for ^(I)his work,
And lets things happen in correspondence to a man’s ^[c]behavior.
¹²^(J)God certainly will not act wickedly,
And the Almighty will not pervert justice.
¹³Who ^(K)gave Him authority over the earth?
And who ^(L)has placed the whole world on Him?
¹⁴If He were to ^[d]determine to do so,
If He were to ^(M)gather His ^[e]spirit and His breath to Himself,
¹⁵^[f]^(N)Humanity would perish together,
And mankind would ^(O)return to dust.

¹⁶“But if you have understanding, hear this;
Listen to the sound of my words.
¹⁷Shall ^(P)one who hates justice rule?
And ^(Q)will you condemn the righteous mighty One,
¹⁸Who says to a king, ‘You worthless one,’
To nobles, ‘You wicked one’;
¹⁹Who shows no ^(R)partiality to the prominent,
Nor regards the rich as above the poor,
Since they are all the ^(S)work of His hands?
²⁰In a moment they die, and ^(T)at midnight
People are shaken and pass away,
And ^(U)the powerful are taken away without a hand.

²¹“For ^(V)His eyes are upon the ways of a person,
And He sees all his steps.
²²There is ^(W)no darkness or deep shadow
Where the workers of injustice can hide themselves.
²³For He does not ^(X)need to consider a person further,
That he should go before God in judgment.
²⁴He breaks in pieces the ^(Y)mighty without investigation,
And sets others in their place.
²⁵Therefore He ^(Z)knows their deeds,
And ^(AA)He overthrows them in the night,
And they are crushed.
²⁶He ^(AB)strikes them like the wicked
^[g]In a public place,
²⁷Because they ^(AC)turned aside from following Him,
And ^(AD)had no regard for any of His ways,
²⁸So that they caused ^(AE)the cry of the poor to come to Him,
And that He would ^(AF)hear the cry of the afflicted—
²⁹When He keeps quiet, who can condemn?
And when He hides His face, who then can look at Him,
That is, regarding both nation and a person?—
³⁰So that ^(AG)godless people would not rule,
Nor be snares for the people.

³¹“For has anyone said to God,
‘I have endured punishment;
I will not offend anymore;
³²Teach me what I do not see;
If I have ^(AH)done wrong,
I will not do it again’?
³³Shall God ^(AI)repay on your terms, because you have rejected His?
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 ^(AJ)speaks without knowledge,
And his words are without wisdom.
³⁶Oh that Job were tested ^[h]to the limit,
Because ^[i]he answers ^(AK)like sinners.
³⁷For he adds ^(AL)rebellion to his sin;
He ^(AM)claps his hands among us,
And multiplies his words against God.’”

Footnotes

Job 34:6 Or Although I am right I am accounted a liar.
Job 34:6 Lit arrow
Job 34:11 Lit way
Job 34:14 Lit set His mind on Himself
Job 34:14 Or Spirit
Job 34:15 Lit All flesh
Job 34:26 Lit In the place of the ones seeing
Job 34:36 Or to the end
Job 34:36 Lit of answers like

1 Corinthians 4-6

New American Standard Bible

Servants of Christ

4 This is the way any person is to regard us: as ^(A)servants of Christ and ^(B)stewards of ^(C)the mysteries of God. ²In this case, moreover, it is required ^[a]of stewards that one be found trustworthy. ³But to me it is an insignificant matter that I would be examined by you, or by any human ^[b]court; in fact, I do not even examine myself. ⁴For I ^(D)am not aware of anything against myself; however I am not ^(E)vindicated by this, but the one who examines me is the Lord. ⁵Therefore ^(F)do not go on ^[c]passing judgment before ^[d]the time, but wait ^(G)until the Lord comes, who will both ^(H)bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of human hearts; and then ^(I)praise will come to each person from God.

⁶Now these things, brothers and sisters, I have figuratively applied to myself and Apollos on your account, so that in us you may learn not to exceed ^(J)what is written, so that no one of you will ^(K)become ^[e]arrogant ^(L)in behalf of one against the other. ⁷For who considers you as superior? ^(M)What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?

⁸You are ^(N)already filled, you have already become rich, you have become kings without us; and indeed, I wish that you had become kings so that we also might reign with you! ⁹For I think, God has exhibited us, the apostles, last of all as men ^(O)condemned to death, because we ^(P)have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to mankind. ¹⁰We are ^(Q)fools on account of Christ, but ^(R)you are prudent in Christ! ^(S)We are weak, but you are strong! You are distinguished, but we are without honor! ¹¹Up to this present hour we are both ^(T)hungry and thirsty, and are poorly clothed and roughly treated and homeless; ¹²and we labor, ^(U)working with our own hands; when we are ^(V)verbally abused, we bless; when we are ^(W)persecuted, we endure it; ¹³when we are slandered, we ^[f]reply as friends; we have ^(X)become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now.

¹⁴I do not write these things to ^(Y)shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved ^(Z)children. ¹⁵For if you were to have countless ^(AA)tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in ^(AB)Christ Jesus I ^(AC)became your father through the ^(AD)gospel. ¹⁶Therefore I urge you, be ^(AE)imitators of me. ¹⁷For this reason I ^(AF)have sent to you ^(AG)Timothy, who is my ^(AH)beloved and faithful child in the Lord, and he will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, ^(AI)just as I teach everywhere in every church. ¹⁸Now some have become ^[g]^(AJ)arrogant, as though I were not ^(AK)coming to you. ¹⁹But I ^(AL)will come to you soon, ^(AM)if the Lord wills, and I shall find out, not the ^[h]words of those who are ^(AN)arrogant, but their power. ²⁰For the kingdom of God is ^(AO)not in ^[i]words, but in power. ²¹What do you desire? ^(AP)That I come to you with a rod, or with love and a spirit of gentleness?

Sexual Immorality Rebuked

5 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and sexual immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, namely, that someone has ^(AQ)his father’s wife. ²^[j]You ^(AR)have become ^[k]arrogant and ^[l]have not ^(AS)mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be ^(AT)removed from your midst.

³For I, on my part, though ^(AU)absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged him who has so committed this, as though I were present. ⁴^(AV)In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and ^[m]I with you in spirit, ^(AW)with the power of our Lord Jesus, ⁵I have decided ^[n]to ^(AX)turn such a person over to ^(AY)Satan for the destruction of his ^[o]body, so that his spirit may be saved on ^(AZ)the day of the ^[p]Lord.

⁶^(BA)Your boasting is not good. ^(BB)Do you not know that ^(BC)a little ^[q]leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? ⁷Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our ^(BD)Passover also has been sacrificed. ⁸Therefore let’s celebrate the feast, ^(BE)not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

⁹I wrote to you in my letter ^(BF)not to associate with sexually immoral people; ¹⁰I did not at all mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the greedy and swindlers, or with ^(BG)idolaters, for then you would have to leave the world. ¹¹But ^[r]actually, I ^[s]wrote to you not to associate ^[t]with any so-called ^(BH)brother if he is a sexually immoral person, or a greedy person, or ^(BI)an idolater, or is verbally abusive, or habitually drunk, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a person. ¹²For what business of mine is it to judge ^(BJ)outsiders? ^(BK)Do you not judge those who are within the church? ¹³But those who are outside, God ^[u]judges. ^(BL)Remove the evil person from among yourselves.

Lawsuits Discouraged

6 Does any one of you, when he has a ^[v]case against ^[w]his neighbor, dare to go to law before the unrighteous and ^(BM)not before the ^[x]saints? ²Or ^(BN)do you not know that ^(BO)the ^[y]saints will judge ^(BP)the world? If the world is judged by you, are you not competent to form the smallest ^[z]law courts? ³^(BQ)Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life? ⁴So if you have law courts dealing with matters of this life, ^[aa]do you appoint them as judges who are of no account in the church? ⁵^(BR)I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not among you anyone wise who will be able to decide between his ^(BS)brothers and sisters, ⁶but brother goes to law with brother, and that before ^(BT)unbelievers?

⁷Actually, then, it is already a defeat for you, that you have lawsuits with one another. ^(BU)Why not rather suffer the wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? ⁸On the contrary, you yourselves do wrong and defraud. And this to your ^(BV)brothers and sisters!

⁹Or ^(BW)do you not know that the unrighteous will not ^(BX)inherit the kingdom of God? ^(BY)Do not be deceived; ^(BZ)neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor ^[ab]homosexuals, ¹⁰nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor those habitually drunk, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will ^(CA)inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹^(CB)Such were some of you; but you were ^(CC)washed, but you were ^(CD)sanctified, but you were ^(CE)justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and ^[ac]in the Spirit of our God.

The Body Is the Lord’s

¹²^(CF)All things are permitted for me, but not all things are of benefit. All things are permitted for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. ¹³^(CG)Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, however God will ^(CH)do away with both ^[ad]of them. But the body is not for sexual immorality, but ^(CI)for the Lord, and ^(CJ)the Lord is for the body. ¹⁴Now God has not only ^(CK)raised the Lord, but ^(CL)will also raise us up through His power. ¹⁵^(CM)Do you not know that ^(CN)your bodies are parts of Christ? Shall I then take away the parts of Christ and make them parts of a prostitute? ^[ae]^(CO)Far from it! ¹⁶Or ^(CP)do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For He says, “^(CQ)The two shall become one flesh.” ¹⁷But the one who joins himself to the Lord is ^(CR)one spirit with Him. ¹⁸^(CS)Flee sexual immorality. Every other sin that a person commits is outside the body, but the ^[af]sexually immoral person sins against his own body. ¹⁹Or ^(CT)do you not know that ^(CU)your body is a ^[ag]temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from ^[ah]God, and that ^(CV)you are not your own? ²⁰For ^(CW)you have been bought for a price: therefore glorify God in ^(CX)your body.