¹ Furthermore Elihu responded, and said:—

² Hear, ye wise men, my words, and, ye who know, give ear unto me;

³ For, the ear, trieth words, as, the palate, tasteth in eating.

⁴ What is right, let us choose for ourselves, Let us know, among ourselves, what is good;

⁵ For Job hath said—I am righteous, But, GOD, hath turned away my right;

⁶ Concerning mine own right, shall I tell a falsehood? Incurable is my disease—not for any transgression.

⁷ What man is like Job? He drinketh in scoffing like water;

⁸ And is on the way to keep company, with the workers of iniquity, and to walk with lawless men.

⁹ For he hath said, It profiteth not a man, when, his good pleasure, is with God.

¹⁰ Wherefore, ye men of mind, hearken unto me,—Far be it, that, GOD, should be lawless, or, the Almighty, be perverse!

¹¹ For, what any son of earth doeth, he repayeth him, and, according to every man’s course, he causeth him to find.

¹² Nay, verily, GOD, will not condemn unjustly,—nor, the Almighty, pervert justice.

¹³ Who set him in charge of the earth? Or who appointed [him] the whole world?

¹⁴ If he should set against him his heart, His spirit and his inspiration, unto himself he should withdraw.

¹⁵ All flesh together, would cease to breathe, and, the earth-born, unto dust, would return.

¹⁶ If then [thou hast] understanding, hear this, Give thou ear to the teaching of my words:—

¹⁷ Shall, the very hater of right, control? Or, the just—the mighty one, wilt thou condemn?

¹⁸ Doth one say to a king, Abandoned one! Or, Lawless one! unto nobles?

¹⁹ For he hath shewn no respect of persons unto princes, neither hath he recognised the rich rather than the poor? For, the work of his hands, are they all.

²⁰ In a moment, they die, even in the middle of the night,—A people are convulsed when they pass away, A mighty one is removed, without hand;

²¹ For, his eyes, are on the ways of a man, and, all his footsteps, he beholdeth,—

²² No darkness, and no death-shade, where the workers of iniquity may hide.

²³ For, unto no man, doth he appoint a repetition,—in going unto GOD in judgment;

²⁴ He shattereth mighty ones unsearchably, and setteth up others in their stead:

²⁵ Therefore, he observeth their works,—and overturneth [them] in a night, and they are crushed;

²⁶ In the place of lawless men, hath he chastised them, in presence of beholders.

²⁷ Forasmuch, as they turned from following him, and, none of his ways, did they teach;

²⁸ Causing to reach him the outcry of the poor, Yea, the outcry of the oppressed, he heareth.

²⁹ When, he, giveth quiet, who then shall condemn? And, when he hideth [his] face, who then shall sing of him? whether unto a nation or unto mankind altogether,

³⁰ That impious men may not reign, nor be ensnarers of the people.

³¹ For, unto GOD, hath one [ever] said—I have borne punishment, I will not be perverse;

³² What I see not, do, thou, shew me, If, perverseness, I have wrought, I will do it no more?

³³ According to thy mind, must he requite it, that thou hast refused? For, thou, must choose, and not, I, What then thou knowest, speak!

³⁴ The men of mind, will say to me, yea any wise man hearkening unto me:—

³⁵ Job, without knowledge, doth speak, and, his words, are not with discretion.

³⁶ Would that Job might be tested to the uttermost, for replying with the men of iniquity:

³⁷ For he addeth—unto his sin—rebellion, In our midst, he clappeth his hands, and multiplieth his sayings against GOD.