⁸ While they were at Lystra, they came upon a man with crippled feet who had been that way from birth, so he had never walked. ⁹ He was listening as Paul preached, and Paul noticed him and realized he had faith to be healed. ¹⁰ So Paul called to him, “Stand up!” and the man leaped to his feet and started walking!

¹¹ When the listening crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted (in their local dialect, of course), “These men are gods in human bodies!” ¹² They decided that Barnabas was the Greek god Jupiter, and that Paul, because he was the chief speaker, was Mercury! ¹³ The local priest of the Temple of Jupiter, located on the outskirts of the city, brought them cartloads of flowers and prepared to sacrifice oxen to them at the city gates before the crowds.

¹⁴ But when Barnabas and Paul saw what was happening, they ripped at their clothing in dismay and ran out among the people, shouting, ¹⁵ “Men! What are you doing? We are merely human beings like yourselves! We have come to bring you the Good News that you are invited to turn from the worship of these foolish things and to pray instead to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them. ¹⁶ In bygone days he permitted the nations to go their own ways, ¹⁷ but he never left himself without a witness; there were always his reminders—the kind things he did such as sending you rain and good crops and giving you food and gladness.”

¹⁸ But even so, Paul and Barnabas could scarcely restrain the people from sacrificing to them!

34 Elihu continued:

² “Listen to me, you wise men. ³ We can choose the sounds we want to listen to; we can choose the taste we want in food, ⁴ and we should choose to follow what is right. But first of all we must define among ourselves what is good. ⁵ For Job has said, ‘I am innocent, but God says I’m not. ⁶ I am called a liar, even though I am innocent. I am horribly punished, even though I have not sinned.’

^7-8 “Who else is as arrogant as Job? He must have spent much time with evil men, ⁹ for he said, ‘Why waste time trying to please God?’

¹⁰ “Listen to me, you with understanding. Surely everyone knows that God doesn’t sin! ¹¹ Rather, he punishes the sinners. ¹² There is no truer statement than this: God is never wicked or unjust. ¹³ He alone has authority over the earth and dispenses justice for the world. ¹⁴ If God were to withdraw his Spirit, ¹⁵ all life would disappear and mankind would turn again to dust.

¹⁶ “Listen now and try to understand. ¹⁷ Could God govern if he hated justice? Are you going to condemn the Almighty Judge? ¹⁸ Are you going to condemn this God who says to kings and nobles, ‘You are wicked and unjust’? ¹⁹ For he doesn’t care how great a man may be, and doesn’t pay any more attention to the rich than to the poor. He made them all. ²⁰ In a moment they die, and at midnight great and small shall suddenly pass away, removed by no human hand.

²¹ “For God carefully watches the goings on of all mankind; he sees them all. ²² No darkness is thick enough to hide evil men from his eyes, ²³ so there is no need to wait for some great crime before a man is called before God in judgment. ²⁴ Without making a big issue over it, God simply shatters the greatest of men and puts others in their places. ²⁵ He watches what they do and in a single night he overturns them, destroying them, ²⁶ or openly strikes them down as wicked men. ²⁷ For they turned aside from following him, ²⁸ causing the cry of the poor to come to the attention of God. Yes, he hears the cries of those being oppressed. ^29-30 Yet when he chooses not to speak, who can criticize? Again, he may prevent a vile man from ruling, thus saving a nation from ruin, and he can depose an entire nation just as easily.

³¹ “Why don’t people exclaim to their God, ‘We have sinned, but we will stop,’ ³² or ‘We know not what evil we have done; only tell us, and we will cease at once’?

³³ “Must God tailor his justice to your demands? Must he change the order of the universe to suit your whims? The answer must be obvious even to you! ^34-35 Anyone even half bright will agree with me that you, Job, are speaking like a fool. ³⁶ You should be given the maximum penalty for the wicked way you have talked about God. ³⁷ For now you have added rebellion, arrogance, and blasphemy to your other sins.”

35 Elihu continued:

^2-3 “Do you think it is right for you to claim, ‘I haven’t sinned, but I’m no better off before God than if I had’?

⁴ “I will answer you and all your friends too. ⁵ Look up there into the sky, high above you. ⁶ If you sin, does that shake the heavens and knock God from his throne? Even if you sin again and again, what effect will it have upon him? ⁷ Or if you are good, is this some great gift to him? ⁸ Your sins may hurt another man, or your good deeds may profit him. ^9-10 The oppressed may shriek beneath their wrongs and groan beneath the power of the rich; yet none of them cry to God, asking, ‘Where is God my Maker who gives songs in the night ¹¹ and makes us a little wiser than the animals and birds?’

¹² “But when anyone does cry out this question to him, he never replies by instant punishment of the tyrants.^{[a] 13} But it is false to say he doesn’t hear those cries; ^14-15 and it is even more false to say that he doesn’t see what is going on. He does bring about justice at last if you will only wait. But do you cry out against him because he does not instantly respond in anger? ¹⁶ Job, you have spoken like a fool.”