Job 34:10-20
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
10 “Therefore, hear me, you who have sense;
far be it from God that he should do wickedness
and from the Almighty[a] that he should do wrong.(A)
11 For according to their deeds he will repay them,
and according to their ways he will make it befall them.(B)
12 Of a truth, God will not do wickedly,
and the Almighty[b] will not pervert justice.(C)
13 Who gave him charge over the earth,
and who laid on him[c] the whole world?(D)
14 If he should take back his spirit[d] to himself
and gather to himself his breath,(E)
15 all flesh would perish together,
and all mortals return to dust.(F)
16 “If you have understanding, hear this;
listen to what I say.
17 Shall one who hates justice govern?
Will you condemn one who is righteous and mighty,(G)
18 who says to a king, ‘You scoundrel!’
and to princes, ‘You wicked men!’;(H)
19 who shows no partiality to nobles,
nor regards the rich more than the poor,
for they are all the work of his hands?(I)
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.(J)
Job 34:10-20
New English Translation
God is Not Unjust
10 “Therefore, listen to me, you men of understanding.[a]
Far be it from[b] God to do wickedness,
from the Almighty to do evil.
11 For he repays a person for his work,[c]
and according to the conduct of a person,
he causes the consequences to find him.[d]
12 Indeed, in truth, God does not act wickedly,
and the Almighty does not pervert justice.
13 Who entrusted[e] to him the earth?
And who put him over[f] the whole world?
14 If God[g] were to set his heart on it,[h]
and gather in his spirit[i] and his breath,
15 all flesh would perish together
and human beings would return to dust.
God Is Impartial and Omniscient
16 “If you have[j] understanding, listen to this,
hear what I have to say.[k]
17 Do you really think[l]
that one who hates justice can govern?[m]
And will you declare guilty
the supremely Righteous One,[n]
18 who says to a king,[o] ‘Worthless man,’[p]
and to nobles, ‘Wicked men,’
19 who shows no partiality to princes,
and does not take note of[q] the rich more than the poor,
because all of them are the work of his hands?
20 In a moment they die, in the middle of the night,[r]
people[s] are shaken[t] and they pass away.
The mighty are removed effortlessly.[u]
Footnotes
- Job 34:10 tn Heb “men of heart.” The “heart” is used for the capacity to understand and make the proper choice. It is often translated “mind.”
- Job 34:10 tn For this construction, see Job 27:5.
- Job 34:11 tn Heb “for the work of man, he [= God] repays him.”
- Job 34:11 tn Heb “he causes it to find him.” The text means that God will cause a man to find (or receive) the consequences of his actions.
- Job 34:13 tn The verb פָּקַד (paqad) means “to visit; to appoint; to number.” Here it means “to entrust” for care and governing. The implication would be that there would be someone higher than God—which is what Elihu is repudiating by the rhetorical question. No one entrusted God with this.
- Job 34:13 tn The preposition is implied from the first half of the verse.
- Job 34:14 tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Job 34:14 tc This is the reading following the Qere. The Kethib and the Syriac and the LXX suggest a reading יָשִׂים (yasim, “if he [God] recalls”). But this would require leaving out “his heart,” and would also require redividing the verse to make “his spirit” the object. It makes better parallelism, but may require too many changes.
- Job 34:14 tn Or perhaps “Spirit,” though this may be less likely in close proximity with “breath.” As a reference to the human spirit cf. Ps. 104:29; as a reference to God’s Spirit originating with him, cf. Ps 104:30.
- Job 34:16 tn The phrase “you have” is not in the Hebrew text, but is implied.
- Job 34:16 tn Heb “the sound of my words.”
- Job 34:17 tn The force of הַאַף (haʾaf) is “Is it truly the case?” The point is being made that if Job were right God could not be judging the world.
- Job 34:17 tn The verb חָבַשׁ (khavash) has the basic idea of “to bind,” as in binding on the yoke, and then in the sense of subduing people under authority (cf. Assyrian absanu). The imperfect verb here is best expressed with the potential nuance.
- Job 34:17 tn The two words could be taken separately, but they seem to form a fine nominal hendiadys, because the issue is God’s justice. So the word for power becomes the modifier.
- Job 34:18 tc Heb “Does one say,” although some smooth it out to say “Is it fit to say?” For the reading “who says,” the form has to be repointed to הַאֹמֵר (haʾomer) meaning, “who is the one saying.” This reading is supported by the LXX, Vulgate, and Syriac. Also it seems to flow better with the following verse. It would be saying that God is over the rulers and can rebuke them. The former view is saying that no one rebukes kings, much less Job rebuking God.
- Job 34:18 tn The word בְּלִיָּעַל (beliyyaʿal) means both “worthless” and “wicked.” It is common in proverbial literature, and in later writings it became a description of Satan. It is usually found with “son of.”
- Job 34:19 tn The verb means “to give recognition; to take note of” and in this passage with לִפְנֵי (lifne, “before”) it means to show preferential treatment to the rich before the poor. The word for “rich” here is an unusual word, found parallel to “noble” (Isa 32:2). P. Joüon thinks it is a term of social distinction (Bib 18 [1937]: 207-8).
- Job 34:20 tn Dhorme transposes “in the middle of the night” with “they pass away” to get a smoother reading. But the MT emphasizes the suddenness by putting both temporal ideas first. E. F. Sutcliffe leaves the order as it stands in the text, but adds a verb “they expire” after “in the middle of the night” (“Notes on Job, textual and exegetical,” Bib 30 [1949]: 79ff.).
- Job 34:20 tn R. Gordis (Job, 389) thinks “people” here mean the people who count, the upper class.
- Job 34:20 tn The verb means “to be violently agitated.” There is no problem with the word in this context, but commentators have made suggestions for improving the idea. The proposal that has the most to commend it, if one were inclined to choose a new word, is the change to יִגְוָעוּ (yigvaʿu, “they expire”; so Ball, Holscher, Fohrer, and others).
- Job 34:20 tn Heb “not by hand.” This means without having to use force.
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