Elihu

Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite said, “I am young, and you are old. That is why I held back and didn’t dare tell you what I think. I said to myself, ‘Age should speak; long years should teach wisdom.’ But there is a spirit in people, and it is the Spirit of the Almighty that gives them understanding. It isn’t the great who are wise, or the old who understand what is right. So I say, ‘Listen to me; I will tell you what I think too.’

“I waited while you spoke. I listened to your reasoning while you searched for what to say. I paid close attention to you, but none of you proved Job wrong; none of you answered what he said. Don’t say, ‘We have found wisdom. God can prove him wrong, not a man.’ Job has not aimed his words at me, and I won’t answer him with your arguments.

“They are astonished. They don’t answer anymore; they have nothing left to say. Should I wait because they don’t speak, because they stand there and answer no more? I will give my answer too; I will tell you what I think. I am full of words, and the spirit inside me pushes me to speak. Inside I am like wine with no way out, like new leather wine bags about to burst. I must speak to get relief. I will open my mouth and answer. I won’t take anyone’s side, and I won’t flatter anyone. I don’t know how to flatter; if I did, my Maker would soon take me away.

“But I heard you say it myself; I heard your very words: ‘I am clean, and I have not rebelled. I am innocent; there is no wrong in me. Yet God finds reasons to attack me. He treats me as his enemy. He puts my feet in chains and watches every path I take.’ But I tell you, you are not right in this, because God is greater than any human being. Why do you argue with him because he doesn’t explain anything he does?

“God does speak, once, even twice, though people don’t notice. In a dream, in a vision at night, when deep sleep falls on people as they sleep in their beds, he opens their ears and fixes his teaching firmly in them. He does it to turn a person away from what he planned and to keep him from pride. He keeps him from going down to the grave, and his life from dying by the sword.

“Or a person is corrected with pain on his bed, with constant aching in his bones, so that he can’t stand the thought of food, not even the best food. His flesh wastes away until it can’t be seen, and his bones, once hidden, stick out. He comes near to the grave, and his life comes near to those who bring death.

“But there may be an angel beside him, an interpreter, one out of a thousand, to show a person what is right for him. Then God is kind to him and says, ‘Rescue him from going down to the grave. I have found a ransom.’ Then his body becomes fresher than a child’s; he is young again. He prays to God, and God is pleased with him, so that he sees God’s face with joy. God gives him back his righteousness. Then he sings to the people around him and says, ‘I sinned and twisted what was right, and it did me no good. He has set me free from going down to the grave, and I will live to see the light.’ God does all these things for a person, two or even three times, to bring him back from the grave so that the light of life can shine on him.

“Listen closely, Job; hear me out. Keep quiet, and I will speak. If you have anything to say, answer me. Go ahead and speak, because I want to declare you in the right. If not, then listen to me. Keep quiet, and I will teach you wisdom.”

“So listen to me, you men of understanding. God would never do evil; the Almighty would never do wrong. He pays each person back for what he has done and gives each one what his ways deserve. Surely God will not do evil, and the Almighty will not twist justice. Who put him in charge of the earth? Who gave him the whole world to rule? If he set his mind on himself and took back his spirit and his breath, every living thing would die together, and human beings would go back to dust.

“If you understand, hear this; listen to what I say. Could someone who hates justice rule? Will you condemn the one who is righteous and mighty, who says to a king, ‘You are worthless!’ and to nobles, ‘You are wicked!’? He doesn’t favor princes or care more for the rich than for the poor, because they are all the work of his hands. In a moment they die, in the middle of the night. People are shaken and pass away; the mighty are taken away, though no human hand does it.

“His eyes are on the ways of every person; he sees every step they take. There is no darkness or deep shadow where those who do evil can hide. God doesn’t need to study a person’s case any further before bringing him to judgment. He breaks the mighty in pieces in ways no one can understand, and he puts others in their place. Because he knows what they do, he overthrows them in the night, and they are crushed. He strikes them down as wicked men where everyone can see, because they turned away from following him and paid no attention to any of his ways. They made the poor cry out to him, and he heard the cry of those who suffer. When he gives peace and quiet, who can condemn? When he hides his face, who can see him? He rules over a nation and over a single person alike, so that the godless will not rule and there will be no one to trap the people.

“Has anyone ever said to God, ‘I am guilty, but I won’t do wrong anymore. Teach me what I can’t see. If I have done wrong, I won’t do it again’? Should he pay back the way you want, when you refuse it? You must choose, not I. So tell us what you know. People with understanding will say to me, every wise man who hears me will say, ‘Job speaks without knowledge; his words have no wisdom in them.’ I wish Job would be tested to the very end, because he answers like a wicked man. He adds rebellion to his sin. He claps his hands at us and piles up words against God.”

“People cry out when they are crushed by cruelty; they cry for help against the power of the mighty. But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night, who teaches us more than the animals of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds of the sky?’ So they cry out, but no one answers, because of the pride of evil people. Surely God does not listen to an empty cry; the Almighty pays no attention to it. He will listen even less when you say you don’t see him, that your case is before him and you are waiting for him! And now, because his anger has not punished anyone, and he doesn’t pay much attention to arrogance, Job opens his mouth with empty talk and piles up words without knowledge.”

“Look, God is mighty, and he doesn’t look down on anyone; he is mighty, and strong in understanding. He doesn’t keep the wicked alive, but he gives justice to those who suffer. He doesn’t take his eyes off the righteous. He seats them on thrones with kings and lifts them up forever. If they are bound in chains, caught in the ropes of suffering, then he shows them what they have done and how they have sinned by acting proudly. He opens their ears to his warning and commands them to turn back from evil. If they listen and serve him, they will spend their days in good times and their years in happiness. But if they don’t listen, they will die by the sword; they will die without knowledge.

“But the godless in heart store up anger. They don’t cry for help when he binds them. They die young, and their lives end among the unclean. He rescues those who suffer through their suffering and opens their ears through their troubles. He would have drawn you, too, out of distress into a wide place with nothing to hold you in, and your table would have been full of rich food. But you are full of the judgment of the wicked; judgment and justice have taken hold of you. Don’t let riches lure you into anger, and don’t let a large bribe turn you aside. Would your wealth or all your strength hold you up when you are in trouble? Don’t long for the night, when people are cut off where they stand. Be careful not to turn to evil, because you have chosen it rather than suffering.

“Look, God is lifted high in his power. Who is a teacher like him? Who has told him which way to go? Who can say to him, ‘You have done wrong’? Remember to praise his work, which people have sung about. Everyone has seen it; people look at it from far away. Look, God is great, greater than we know. No one can count the number of his years. He draws up drops of water, which turn into rain from the mist. The clouds pour it down and shower it on people. Can anyone understand how he spreads out the clouds, or the thunder from his tent? See how he spreads his light around him and covers the depths of the sea. By these he judges the peoples and gives food in plenty. He fills his hands with lightning and commands it to strike its mark. Its thunder tells about him, and even the cattle tell of the storm that is coming.

“He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth,’ and he says the same to the showers of rain, his mighty downpours. He seals up the hand of every person, so that everyone he has made may know it. The animals take cover and stay in their dens. The storm comes out of its room, and the cold out of the north. By God’s breath ice is made, and wide waters freeze over. He loads the thick clouds with water and scatters the clouds of his lightning. They swirl around as he guides them, to do whatever he commands them over the face of the whole world. He makes them come, whether to correct people, or for his land, or to show his love.

“Listen to this, Job. Stop and think about the wonderful things God does. Do you know how God controls the clouds and makes their lightning flash? Do you know how the clouds work, the wonderful works of the one who is perfect in knowledge? You, whose clothes are hot when the land lies still under the south wind, can you spread out the sky with him, hard as a metal mirror? Teach us what we should say to him; we can’t make our case, because we are in the dark. Should he be told that I want to speak? Would anyone ask to be swallowed up?

“Now people don’t see the light that is bright in the skies, but the wind passes by and clears them. Out of the north comes golden splendor; God has awesome majesty. We can’t reach the Almighty. He is great in power. In his justice and great righteousness, he does not mistreat anyone. That is why people fear him. He pays no attention to any who are wise in heart.”