Job 34

English Standard Version

Elihu Asserts God's Justice

34 Then Elihu answered and said:

²“Hear my words, you wise men,
    and give ear to me, you who know;
³for ^(A)the ear tests words
    as the palate tastes food.
⁴Let us choose ^(B)what is right;
    let us know among ourselves what is good.
⁵For Job has said, ‘I am ^(C)in the right,
    and ^(D)God has taken away my right;
⁶in spite of my right I am counted a liar;
    my wound is incurable, though I am ^(E)without transgression.’
⁷What man is like Job,
    who ^(F)drinks up scoffing like water,
⁸who travels in company with evildoers
    and walks ^(G)with wicked men?
⁹For ^(H)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 ^(I)do wickedness,
    and from the Almighty that he should do wrong.
¹¹For according to ^(J)the work of a man he will repay him,
    and ^(K)according to his ways he will make it befall him.
¹²Of a truth, God will not do wickedly,
    and ^(L)the Almighty will not pervert justice.
¹³Who gave him charge over the earth,
    and who ^(M)laid on him^[a] the whole world?
¹⁴If he should ^(N)set his heart to it
    and ^(O)gather to himself his ^(P)spirit and his breath,
¹⁵all flesh would perish together,
    and man would ^(Q)return to dust.

¹⁶“If you have understanding, hear this;
    listen to what I say.
¹⁷^(R)Shall one who hates justice govern?
    Will you condemn him who is righteous and mighty,
¹⁸who ^(S)says to a king, ‘Worthless one,’
    and to nobles, ‘Wicked man,’
¹⁹who ^(T)shows no partiality to princes,
    nor regards the rich ^(U)more than the poor,
    for ^(V)they are all the work of his hands?
²⁰In a moment ^(W)they die;
    at ^(X)midnight the people are shaken and pass away,
    and the mighty are taken away by ^(Y)no human hand.

²¹“For his eyes are on ^(Z)the ways of a man,
    and he sees all his ^(AA)steps.
²²There is no ^(AB)gloom or ^(AC)deep darkness
    where evildoers may hide themselves.
²³For God^[b] has no need to consider a man further,
    that he should go before God in ^(AD)judgment.
²⁴He ^(AE)shatters the mighty without investigation
    and sets ^(AF)others in their place.
²⁵Thus, knowing their works,
    he ^(AG)overturns them in the night, and they are crushed.
²⁶He strikes them for their wickedness
    in a place for all to see,
²⁷because they turned aside from ^(AH)following him
    and had no regard for any of his ways,
²⁸so that they ^(AI)caused the cry of the poor to come to him,
    and he ^(AJ)heard the cry of the afflicted—
²⁹When he is quiet, who can condemn?
    When he hides his face, who can behold him,
    whether it be a nation or a man?—
³⁰that 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^(AK)teach me what I do not see;
    if I have done iniquity, I will do it no more’?
³³Will he then make repayment to suit you,
    because you reject it?
For you must choose, and not I;
    therefore ^(AL)declare what you know.^[c]
³⁴Men of understanding will say to me,
    and the wise man who hears me will say:
³⁵‘Job ^(AM)speaks without knowledge;
    his words are without insight.’
³⁶Would that Job were tried to the end,
    because he answers like wicked men.
³⁷For he adds rebellion to his sin;
    he ^(AN)claps his hands among us
    and multiplies his words against God.”

Footnotes

Job 34:13 Hebrew lacks on him
Job 34:23 Hebrew he
Job 34:33 The meaning of the Hebrew in verses 29–33 is uncertain

1 Kings 10

English Standard Version

The Queen of Sheba

10 ^(A)Now when ^(B)the queen of ^(C)Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came ^(D)to test him with hard questions. ²She came to Jerusalem with a very great retinue, with camels ^(E)bearing spices and very much gold and precious stones. And when she came to Solomon, she told him all that was on her mind. ³And Solomon answered all her questions; there was nothing hidden from the king that he could not explain to her. ⁴And when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, ⁵the food of his table, the seating of his officials, and the attendance of his servants, their clothing, his cupbearers, and his burnt offerings that he offered at the house of the Lord, there was no more breath in her.

⁶And she said to the king, “The report was true that I heard in my own land of your words and of your wisdom, ⁷but I did not believe the reports until I came and my own eyes had seen it. And behold, the half was not told me. Your wisdom and prosperity surpass the report that I heard. ⁸^(F)Happy are your men! Happy are your servants, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom! ⁹^(G)Blessed be the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and set you on the throne of Israel! ^(H)Because the Lord loved Israel forever, he has made you king, ^(I)that you may execute justice and righteousness.” ¹⁰^(J)Then she gave the king 120 talents^[a] of gold, and a very great quantity of spices and precious stones. Never again came such an abundance of spices as these that the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

¹¹Moreover, ^(K)the fleet of Hiram, which brought ^(L)gold from Ophir, brought from Ophir a very great amount of almug wood and precious stones. ¹²And the king made of the almug wood supports for the house of the Lord and for the king's house, also lyres and harps for the singers. No such almug wood has come or been seen to this day.

¹³And King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all that she desired, whatever she asked besides what was given her by the bounty of King Solomon. So she turned and went back to her own land with her servants.

Solomon's Great Wealth

¹⁴^(M)Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was 666 talents of gold, ¹⁵besides that which came from the explorers and from the business of the merchants, and from all the kings of the west and from the governors of the land. ¹⁶King Solomon made 200 large shields of beaten gold; 600 shekels^[b] of gold went into each shield. ¹⁷And he made 300 ^(N)shields of beaten gold; three minas^[c] of gold went into each shield. And the king put them in ^(O)the House of the Forest of Lebanon. ¹⁸The king also made a great ivory throne and overlaid it with the finest gold. ¹⁹The throne had six steps, and the throne had a round top,^[d] and on each side of the seat were armrests and two lions standing beside the armrests, ²⁰while twelve lions stood there, one on each end of a step on the six steps. The like of it was never made in any kingdom. ²¹All King Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of ^(P)the House of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. None were of silver; silver was not considered as anything in the days of Solomon. ²²For the king had ^(Q)a fleet of ships of Tarshish at sea with the fleet of Hiram. Once every three years the fleet of ships of Tarshish used to come bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.^[e]

²³^(R)Thus King Solomon excelled all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. ²⁴And the whole earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put into his mind. ²⁵Every one of them brought his present, articles of silver and gold, garments, myrrh,^[f] spices, horses, and mules, so much year by year.

²⁶^(S)And Solomon gathered together ^(T)chariots and horsemen. He had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen, whom he stationed in the ^(U)chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem. ²⁷And the king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stone, and he made cedar as plentiful as ^(V)the sycamore of the Shephelah. ²⁸And Solomon's ^(W)import of horses was from Egypt and Kue, and the king's traders received them from Kue at a price. ²⁹A chariot could be imported from Egypt for 600 shekels of silver and a horse for 150, and so through the king's traders they were exported to all the kings of ^(X)the Hittites and the kings of Syria.