Job 32-34
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
VII. Elihu’s Speeches
Chapter 32
1 Then the three men ceased to answer Job, because in his own eyes he was in the right.(A) 2 (B)But the anger of Elihu,[a] son of Barachel the Buzite, of the clan of Ram, was kindled. He was angry with Job for considering himself rather than God to be in the right. 3 (C)He was angry also with the three friends because they had not found a good answer and had not condemned Job. 4 But since these men were older than he, Elihu bided his time before addressing Job. 5 When, however, Elihu saw that there was no reply in the mouths of the three men, his wrath was inflamed. 6 So Elihu, son of Barachel the Buzite, answered and said:
I am young and you are very old;
therefore I held back and was afraid
to declare to you my knowledge.
7 I thought, days should speak,
and many years teach wisdom!(D)
8 But there is a spirit in human beings,(E)
the breath of the Almighty, that gives them understanding.
9 It is not those of many days who are wise,
nor the aged who understand the right.
10 Therefore I say, listen to me;
I also will declare my knowledge!
11 Behold, I have waited for your words,
have given ear to your arguments,
as you searched out what to say.
12 Yes, I followed you attentively:
And look, none of you has convicted Job,
not one could refute his statements.
13 So do not say, “We have met wisdom;[b]
God can vanquish him but no mortal!”
14 For had he addressed his words to me,
I would not then have answered him with your words.
15 They are dismayed, they make no more reply;
words fail them.
16 Must I wait? Now that they speak no more,
and have ceased to make reply,
17 I too will speak my part;
I also will declare my knowledge!
18 For I am full of words;
the spirit within me compels me.
19 My belly is like unopened wine,
like wineskins ready to burst.
20 Let me speak and obtain relief;
let me open my lips, and reply.
21 I would not be partial to anyone,
nor give flattering titles to any.
22 For I know nothing of flattery;
if I did, my Maker would soon take me away.
Chapter 33
1 Therefore, O Job, hear my discourse;
listen to all my words.
2 Behold, now I open my mouth;
my tongue and voice form words.
3 I will state directly what is in my mind,
my lips shall speak knowledge clearly;
4 For the spirit of God made me,
the breath of the Almighty keeps me alive.(F)
5 If you are able, refute me;
draw up your arguments and take your stand.
6 Look, I am like you before God,
I too was pinched from clay.[c](G)
7 Therefore fear of me should not dismay you,
nor should I weigh heavily upon you.
8 But you have said in my hearing,
as I listened to the sound of your words:
9 “I am clean, without transgression;
I am innocent, there is no guilt in me.(H)
10 Yet he invents pretexts against me
and counts me as an enemy.[d](I)
11 He puts my feet in the stocks,
watches all my paths!”(J)
12 In this you are not just, let me tell you;
for God is greater than mortals.
13 Why, then, do you make complaint against him
that he gives no reply to their words?(K)
14 For God does speak, once,
even twice, though you do not see it:[e]
15 In a dream, in a vision of the night,
when deep sleep falls upon mortals
as they slumber in their beds.
16 It is then he opens their ears
and with a warning, terrifies them,
17 By turning mortals from acting
and keeping pride away from a man,
18 He holds his soul from the pit,
his life from passing to the grave.
19 Or he is chastened on a bed of pain,
suffering continually in his bones,
20 So that to his appetite food is repulsive,
his throat rejects the choicest nourishment.(L)
21 His flesh is wasted, it cannot be seen;
bones, once invisible, appear;
22 His soul draws near to the pit,
his life to the place of the dead.
23 If then there be a divine messenger,[f]
a mediator, one out of a thousand,
to show him what is right,
24 He will take pity on him and say,
“Deliver him from going down to the pit;
I have found him a ransom.”
25 Then his flesh shall become soft as a boy’s;
he shall be again as in the days of his youth.
26 He shall pray and God will favor him;
he shall see God’s face with rejoicing;(M)
for he restores a person’s righteousness.
27 He shall sing before all and say,
“I sinned and did wrong,
yet I was not punished accordingly.
28 He delivered me from passing to the pit,
and my life sees light.”
29 See, all these things God does,
two, even three times, for a man,
30 Bringing back his soul from the pit
to the light, in the light of the living.
31 Be attentive, Job, listen to me!
Be silent and I will speak.
32 If you have anything to say, then answer me.
Speak out! I should like to see you justified.
33 If not, then you listen to me;
be silent, and I will teach you wisdom.
Chapter 34
1 Then Elihu answered and said:[g]
2 Hear my discourse, you that are wise;
you that have knowledge, listen to me!
3 For the ear tests words,
as the palate tastes food.(N)
4 Let us choose what is right;
let us determine among ourselves what is good.
5 For Job has said, “I am innocent,
but God has taken away what is my right.(O)
6 I declare the judgment on me to be a lie;
my arrow-wound is incurable, sinless though I am.”(P)
7 What man is like Job?
He drinks in blasphemies like water,
8 Keeps company with evildoers
and goes along with the wicked,
9 When he says, “There is no profit
in pleasing God.”(Q)
10 Therefore, you that have understanding, hear me:
far be it from God to do wickedness;
far from the Almighty to do wrong!(R)
11 Rather, he requites mortals for their conduct,
and brings home to them their way of life.(S)
12 Surely, God cannot act wickedly,
the Almighty cannot pervert justice.(T)
13 Who gave him charge over the earth,
or who set all the world in its place?(U)
14 If he were to set his mind to it,
gather to himself his spirit and breath,
15 All flesh would perish together,
and mortals return to dust.(V)
16 Now you[h]—understand, hear this!
Listen to the words I speak!
17 Can an enemy of justice be in control,
will you condemn the supreme Just One,
18 Who says to a king, “You are worthless!”
and to nobles, “You are wicked!”
19 Who neither favors the person of princes,
nor respects the rich more than the poor?
For they are all the work of his hands;(W)
20 in a moment they die, even at midnight.(X)
People are shaken, and pass away,
the powerful are removed without lifting a hand;
21 For his eyes are upon our ways,
and all our steps he sees.
22 There is no darkness so dense
that evildoers can hide in it.
23 For no one has God set a time
to come before him in judgment.
24 Without inquiry he shatters the mighty,(Y)
and appoints others in their place,
25 Thus he discerns their works;
overnight they are crushed.
26 [i]Where the wicked are, he strikes them,
in a place where all can see,
27 Because they turned away from him
and did not understand his ways at all:
28 And made the cry of the poor reach him,
so that he heard the cry of the afflicted.
29 If he is silent, who then can condemn?
If he hides his face, who then can behold him,
whether nation or individual?
30 Let an impious man not rule,
nor those who ensnare their people.
31 Should anyone say to God,
“I accept my punishment; I will offend no more;
32 What I cannot see, teach me:
if I have done wrong, I will do so no more,”
33 Would you then say that God must punish,
when you are disdainful?
It is you who must choose, not I;
speak, therefore, what you know.
34 Those who understand will say to me,
all the wise who hear my views:
35 “Job speaks without knowledge,
his words make no sense.(Z)
36 Let Job be tested to the limit,
since his answers are those of the impious;
37 For he is adding rebellion to his sin
by brushing off our arguments
and addressing many words to God.”
Footnotes
- 32:2 Elihu means “My God is he.” This speaker was from Buz, which, according to Jer 25:23, was near Tema and Dedan. A young man, he impetuously and impatiently upbraids Job for his boldness toward God, and the three friends for not successfully answering Job. He undertakes to defend God’s absolute justice and to explain more clearly why there is suffering. While fundamentally his position is the same as that of the three friends, he locates the place of suffering in the divine plan. Because Elihu’s four speeches (32:6–33:33; 34:2–37; 35:2–16; 36:2–37:24) repeat the substance of the earlier arguments of the three friends and also anticipate the content of the divine speeches (chaps. 39–41), many scholars consider them a later addition to the book.
- 32:13 Met wisdom: in Job’s arguments.
- 33:6 Pinched from clay: a reference to the tradition that human beings were made from clay; cf. Gn 2:7; Jb 10:9; Is 64:7.
- 33:10 Enemy: see note on 1:1; cf. 13:24.
- 33:14 Elihu asserts that God speaks through warning in dream and also through pain. However, his presupposition is that the restored person admits sinfulness (v. 27). This of course is not relevant to Job’s situation.
- 33:23 Divine messenger: or “angel,” one of the thousands who serve as mediators.
- 34:1 Elihu replies, although no one else has spoken. This connective phrase (see also 35:1 and 36:1) may indicate that these speeches of Elihu are a secondary addition to the book (see note on 32:2).
- 34:16 Now you: Elihu turns to Job and addresses him directly.
- 34:26, 29–30 The extant Hebrew text of these verses is obscure.
Wisdom 11:1-14
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 11
1 She prospered their affairs through the holy prophet.(A)
III. Special Providence of God During the Exodus[a]
Introduction
2 They journeyed through the uninhabited desert,
and in lonely places they pitched their tents;(B)
3 they withstood enemies and warded off their foes.(C)
4 When they thirsted, they called upon you,
and water was given them from the sheer rock,
a quenching of their thirst from the hard stone.
5 For by the things through which their foes were punished
they in their need were benefited.(D)
First Example: Water Punishes the Egyptians and Benefits the Israelites
6 Instead of a river’s[b] perennial source,
troubled with impure blood(E)
7 as a rebuke to the decree for the slaying of infants,
You gave them abundant water beyond their hope,
8 after you had shown by the thirst they experienced
how you punished their adversaries.
9 For when they had been tried, though only mildly chastised,(F)
they recognized how the wicked, condemned in anger, were being tormented.
10 You tested your own people, admonishing them as a father;
but as a stern king you probed and condemned the wicked.
11 Those near and far were equally afflicted:(G)
12 for a twofold grief[c] took hold of them(H)
and a groaning at the remembrance of the ones who had departed.
13 For when they heard that the cause of their own torments
was a benefit to these others, they recognized the Lord.
14 For though they had mocked and rejected him who had been cast out and abandoned long ago,
in the final outcome, they marveled at him,
since their thirst proved unlike that of the righteous.(I)
Footnotes
- 11:2–19:22 Few verses in chaps. 11–19 can be fully understood without consulting the passages in the Pentateuch which are indicated in the cross-references. The theme of this part of the book is expressed in v. 5 and is illustrated in the following chapters by five examples drawn from Exodus events.
- 11:6–8 River: the Nile; the contrast is between the first plague of Egypt (Ex 7:17–24) and the water drawn from the rock in Horeb (Ex 17:5–7; Nm 20:8–11).
- 11:12 Twofold grief: the double distress described in vv. 13–14.
Luke 23:1-25
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 23
Jesus Before Pilate.(A) 1 [a]Then the whole assembly of them arose and brought him before Pilate. 2 They brought charges against him, saying, “We found this man misleading our people; he opposes the payment of taxes to Caesar and maintains that he is the Messiah, a king.”(B) 3 Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” He said to him in reply, “You say so.”(C) 4 Pilate then addressed the chief priests and the crowds, “I find this man not guilty.” 5 But they were adamant and said, “He is inciting the people with his teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee where he began even to here.”(D)
Jesus Before Herod. 6 [b]On hearing this Pilate asked if the man was a Galilean; 7 and upon learning that he was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod who was in Jerusalem at that time.(E) 8 Herod was very glad to see Jesus; he had been wanting to see him for a long time, for he had heard about him and had been hoping to see him perform some sign.(F) 9 He questioned him at length, but he gave him no answer.(G) 10 The chief priests and scribes, meanwhile, stood by accusing him harshly.(H) 11 [Even] Herod and his soldiers treated him contemptuously and mocked him, and after clothing him in resplendent garb, he sent him back to Pilate.(I) 12 Herod and Pilate became friends that very day, even though they had been enemies formerly. 13 Pilate then summoned the chief priests, the rulers, and the people 14 and said to them, “You brought this man to me and accused him of inciting the people to revolt. I have conducted my investigation in your presence and have not found this man guilty of the charges you have brought against him,(J) 15 nor did Herod, for he sent him back to us. So no capital crime has been committed by him. 16 (K)Therefore I shall have him flogged and then release him.” [17 ][c]
The Sentence of Death.(L) 18 But all together they shouted out, “Away with this man! Release Barabbas to us.” 19 (Now Barabbas had been imprisoned for a rebellion that had taken place in the city and for murder.) 20 Again Pilate addressed them, still wishing to release Jesus, 21 but they continued their shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” 22 Pilate addressed them a third time, “What evil has this man done? I found him guilty of no capital crime. Therefore I shall have him flogged and then release him.” 23 With loud shouts, however, they persisted in calling for his crucifixion, and their voices prevailed. 24 The verdict of Pilate was that their demand should be granted. 25 So he released the man who had been imprisoned for rebellion and murder, for whom they asked, and he handed Jesus over to them to deal with as they wished.
The Way of the Cross.[d]
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 23:1–5, 13–25 Twice Jesus is brought before Pilate in Luke’s account, and each time Pilate explicitly declares Jesus innocent of any wrongdoing (Lk 23:4, 14, 22). This stress on the innocence of Jesus before the Roman authorities is also characteristic of John’s gospel (Jn 18:38; 19:4, 6). Luke presents the Jerusalem Jewish leaders as the ones who force the hand of the Roman authorities (Lk 23:1–2, 5, 10, 13, 18, 21, 23–25).
- 23:6–12 The appearance of Jesus before Herod is found only in this gospel. Herod has been an important figure in Luke (Lk 9:7–9; 13:31–33) and has been presented as someone who has been curious about Jesus for a long time. His curiosity goes unrewarded. It is faith in Jesus, not curiosity, that is rewarded (Lk 7:50; 8:48, 50; 17:19).
- 23:17 This verse, “He was obliged to release one prisoner for them at the festival,” is not part of the original text of Luke. It is an explanatory gloss from Mk 15:6 (also Mt 27:15) and is not found in many early and important Greek manuscripts. On its historical background, see notes on Mt 27:15–26.
- 23:26–32 An important Lucan theme throughout the gospel has been the need for the Christian disciple to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. Here this theme comes to the fore with the story of Simon of Cyrene who takes up the cross and follows Jesus (see Lk 9:23; 14:27) and with the large crowd who likewise follow Jesus on the way of the cross. See also note on Mk 15:21.
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.