Job 34:10-20

New Century Version

¹⁰ “So listen to me, you who can understand.
    God can never do wrong!
    It is impossible for the Almighty to do evil.
¹¹ God pays people back for what they have done
    and gives them what their actions deserve.
¹² Truly God will never do wrong;
    the Almighty will never twist what is right.
¹³ No one chose God to rule over the earth
    or put him in charge of the whole world.
¹⁴ If God should decide
    to take away life and breath,
¹⁵ then everyone would die together
    and turn back into dust.

¹⁶ “If you can understand, hear this;
    listen to what I have to say.
¹⁷ Can anyone govern who hates what is right?
    How can you blame God who is both fair and powerful?
¹⁸ God is the one who says to kings, ‘You are worthless,’
    or to important people, ‘You are evil.’
¹⁹ He is not nicer to princes than other people,
    nor kinder to rich people than poor people,
    because he made them all with his own hands.
²⁰ They can die in a moment, in the middle of the night.
    They are struck down, and then they pass away;
    powerful people die without help.