¹ And Elihu made answer and said,

² Give ear, you wise, to my words; and you who have knowledge, give attention to me;

³ For words are tested by the ear, as food is tasted by the mouth.

⁴ Let us make the decision for ourselves as to what is right; let us have the knowledge among ourselves of what is good.

⁵ For Job has said, I am upright, and it is God who has taken away my right;

⁶ Though I am right, still I am in pain; my wound may not be made well, though I have done no wrong.

⁷ What man is like Job, a man who freely makes sport of God,

⁸ And goes in the company of evil-doers, walking in the way of sinners?

⁹ For he has said, It is no profit to a man to take delight in God.

¹⁰ Now then, you wise, take note; you men of knowledge, give ear to me. Let it be far from God to do evil, and from the Ruler of all to do wrong.

¹¹ For he gives to every man the reward of his work, and sees that he gets the fruit of his ways.

¹² Truly, God does not do evil, and the Ruler of all is not a false judge.

¹³ Who put the earth into his care, or made him responsible for the world?

¹⁴ If he made his spirit come back to him, taking his breath into himself again,

¹⁵ All flesh would come to an end together, and man would go back to the dust.

¹⁶ If you are wise, take note of this; give ear to the voice of my words.

¹⁷ How may a hater of right be a ruler? and will you say that the upright Ruler of all is evil?

¹⁸ He who says to a king, You are an evil-doer; and to rulers, You are sinners;

¹⁹ Who has no respect for rulers, and who gives no more attention to those who have wealth than to the poor, for they are all the work of his hands.

²⁰ Suddenly they come to an end, even in the middle of the night: the blow comes on the men of wealth, and they are gone, and the strong are taken away without the hand of man.

²¹ For his eyes are on the ways of a man, and he sees all his steps.

²² There is no dark place, and no thick cloud, in which the workers of evil may take cover.

²³ For he does not give man a fixed time to come before him to be judged.

²⁴ He sends the strong to destruction without searching out their cause, and puts others in their place.

²⁵ For he has knowledge of their works, overturning them in the night, so that they are crushed.

²⁶ The evil-doers are broken by his wrath, he puts his hand on them with force before the eyes of all onlookers.

²⁷ Because they did not go after him, and took no note of his ways,

²⁸ So that the cry of the poor might come up to him, and the prayer of those in need come to his ears.

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³⁴ Men of knowledge, and all wise men, hearing me, will say,

³⁵ Job's words do not come from knowledge; they are not the fruit of wisdom.

³⁶ May Job be tested to the end, because his answers have been like those of evil men.

³⁷ For in addition to his sin, he is uncontrolled in heart; before our eyes he makes sport of God, increasing his words against him.