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Elihu Proclaims God’s Justice
34 Then Elihu continued and said:
2 “Hear my words, you wise men,
and give ear to me, you who know,
3 for the ear tests words
as the palate tastes food.(A)
4 Let us choose what is right;
let us determine among ourselves what is good.(B)
5 For Job has said, ‘I am innocent,
and God has taken away my right;
6 in spite of being right I am counted a liar;
my wound is incurable, though I am without transgression.’(C)
7 Who is there like Job,
who drinks up scoffing like water,(D)
8 who goes in company with evildoers
and walks with the wicked?(E)
9 For he has said, ‘It profits one nothing
to take delight in God.’(F)
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.(G)
11 For according to their deeds he will repay them,
and according to their ways he will make it befall them.(H)
12 Of a truth, God will not do wickedly,
and the Almighty[b] will not pervert justice.(I)
13 Who gave him charge over the earth,
and who laid on him[c] the whole world?(J)
14 If he should take back his spirit[d] to himself
and gather to himself his breath,(K)
15 all flesh would perish together,
and all mortals return to dust.(L)
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,(M)
18 who says to a king, ‘You scoundrel!’
and to princes, ‘You wicked men!’;(N)
19 who shows no partiality to nobles,
nor regards the rich more than the poor,
for they are all the work of his hands?(O)
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.(P)
21 “For his eyes are upon the ways of mortals,
and he sees all their steps.(Q)
22 There is no gloom or deep darkness
where evildoers may hide themselves.(R)
23 For he has not appointed a time[e] for anyone
to go before God in judgment.
24 He shatters the mighty without investigation
and sets others in their place.(S)
25 Thus, knowing their works,
he overturns them in the night, and they are crushed.(T)
26 He strikes them for their wickedness
while others look on,(U)
27 because they turned aside from following him
and had no regard for any of his ways,(V)
28 so that they caused the cry of the poor to come to him,
and he heard the cry of the afflicted—(W)
29 When he is quiet, who can condemn?
When he hides his face, who can behold him?
Whether nation or person, it is the same—(X)
30 so that the godless should not reign
or those who ensnare the people.(Y)
31 “For has anyone said to God,
‘I have endured punishment; I will not offend any more;
32 teach me what I do not see;
if I have done iniquity, I will do it no more’?(Z)
33 Will he then pay back to suit you
because you reject it?
For you must choose and not I;
therefore declare what you know.[f]
34 Those who have sense will say to me,
and the wise who hear me will say,
35 ‘Job speaks without knowledge;
his words are without insight.’(AA)
36 Would that Job were tried to the limit,
because his answers are those of the wicked.(AB)
37 For he adds rebellion to his sin;
he claps his hands among us
and multiplies his words against God.”
Elihu Condemns Self-Righteousness
35 Elihu continued and said:
2 “Do you think this to be just?
You say, ‘I am in the right before God.’(AC)
3 If you ask, ‘What advantage have I?
How am I better off than if I had sinned?’(AD)
4 I will answer you
and your friends with you.
5 Look at the heavens and see;
observe the clouds, which are higher than you.(AE)
6 If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against him?
And if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to him?(AF)
7 If you are righteous, what do you give to him,
or what does he receive from your hand?(AG)
8 Your wickedness affects others like you,
and your righteousness, other human beings.
9 “Because of the multitude of oppressions people cry out;
they call for help because of the arm of the mighty.(AH)
10 But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker,
who gives strength in the night,(AI)
11 who teaches us more than the animals of the earth
and makes us wiser than the birds of the air?’(AJ)
12 There they cry out, but he does not answer,
because of the pride of evildoers.(AK)
13 Surely God does not hear an empty cry,
nor does the Almighty[g] regard it.(AL)
14 How much less when you say that you do not see him,
that the case is before him and you are waiting for him!(AM)
15 And now, because his anger does not punish
and he does not greatly heed transgression,[h](AN)
16 Job opens his mouth in empty talk;
he multiplies words without knowledge.”(AO)
Elihu Exalts God’s Goodness
36 Elihu continued and said:
2 “Bear with me a little, and I will show you,
for I have yet something to say on God’s behalf.
3 I will bring my knowledge from far away
and ascribe righteousness to my Maker.(AP)
4 For truly my words are not false;
one who is perfect in knowledge is with you.(AQ)
5 “Surely God is mighty and does not despise any;
he is mighty in strength of understanding.(AR)
6 He does not keep the wicked alive
but gives the afflicted their right.(AS)
7 He does not withdraw his eyes from the righteous,
but with kings on the throne
he sets them forever, and they are exalted.(AT)
8 And if they are bound in fetters
and caught in the cords of affliction,
9 then he declares to them their work
and their transgressions, that they are behaving arrogantly.(AU)
10 He opens their ears to instruction
and commands that they return from iniquity.(AV)
11 If they listen and serve him,
they complete their days in prosperity
and their years in pleasantness.(AW)
12 But if they do not listen, they shall perish by the sword
and die without knowledge.(AX)
13 “The godless in heart cherish anger;
they do not cry for help when he binds them.(AY)
14 They die in their youth,
and their life ends in shame.[i](AZ)
15 He delivers the afflicted by their affliction
and opens their ear by adversity.(BA)
16 He also allured you out of distress
into a broad place where there was no constraint,
and what was set on your table was full of fatness.(BB)
17 “But you are obsessed with the case of the wicked;
judgment and justice seize you.
18 Beware that wrath does not entice you into scoffing,
and do not let the greatness of the ransom turn you aside.(BC)
19 Will your cry avail to keep you from distress,
or will all the force of your strength?
20 Do not long for the night,
when peoples are cut off in their place.(BD)
21 Beware! Do not turn to iniquity;
because of that you have been tried by affliction.(BE)
22 See, God is exalted in his power;
who is a teacher like him?
23 Who has prescribed for him his way,
or who can say, ‘You have done wrong’?(BF)
Elihu Proclaims God’s Majesty
24 “Remember to extol his work,
of which mortals have sung.(BG)
25 All people have looked on it;
everyone watches it from far away.
26 Surely God is great, and we do not know him;
the number of his years is unsearchable.(BH)
27 For he draws up the drops of water;
he distills[j] his mist in rain,(BI)
28 which the skies pour down
and drop upon mortals abundantly.
29 Can anyone understand the spreading of the clouds,
the thunderings of his pavilion?(BJ)
30 See, he scatters his lightning around him
and covers the roots of the sea.
31 For by these he governs peoples;
he gives food in abundance.(BK)
32 He covers his hands with the lightning
and commands it to strike the mark.(BL)
33 Its crashing[k] tells about him;
he is jealous[l] with anger against iniquity.(BM)
Treasure in Clay Jars
4 Therefore, since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart.(A) 2 We have renounced the shameful, underhanded ways; we refuse to practice cunning or to falsify God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God.(B) 3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.(C) 4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing clearly the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.(D) 5 For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’s sake.(E) 6 For it is the God who said, “Light will shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.(F)
7 But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.(G) 8 We are afflicted in every way but not crushed, perplexed but not driven to despair, 9 persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed, 10 always carrying around in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies.(H) 11 For we who are living are always being handed over to death for Jesus’s sake, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our mortal flesh. 12 So death is at work in us but life in you.
Psalm 44
National Lament and Prayer for Help
To the leader. Of the Korahites. A Maskil.
1 We have heard with our ears, O God;
our ancestors have told us
what deeds you performed in their days,
in the days of old:(A)
2 you with your own hand drove out the nations,
but them you planted;
you afflicted the peoples,
but them you set free;(B)
3 for not by their own sword did they win the land,
nor did their own arm give them victory,
but your right hand, and your arm,
and the light of your countenance,
for you delighted in them.(C)
4 You are my King and my God;
you command[a] victories for Jacob.
5 Through you we push down our foes;
through your name we tread down our assailants.(D)
6 For not in my bow do I trust,
nor can my sword save me.
7 But you have saved us from our foes
and have put to confusion those who hate us.(E)
8 In God we have boasted continually,
and we will give thanks to your name forever. Selah(F)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.