¹Thus Elihu ⌞spoke up⌟ and said, ²“Hear my words, you wise men, and listen to me, you who know, ³for the ear tests words, and the palate tastes ⌞food⌟. ⁴Let us choose justice for ourselves; let us determine among ourselves what is good— ⁵for Job has said, ‘I am righteous, but God has taken away my justice. ⁶Should I lie concerning my justice? Though I am without transgression, my wound caused by an arrow is incurable.’ ⁷What man is like Job, who drinks scorn like water? ⁸And he goes on the road in company with instigators of mischief, and walks with men of wickedness. ⁹Indeed, he says, ‘A man does not profit when he takes delight in God.’ ¹⁰“Therefore, listen to me, ⌞people who have sense⌟: far be it from God ⌞that he should commit wickedness⌟ and that Shaddai ⌞should do wrong⌟. ¹¹Indeed, he will repay according to a human being’s deeds, and according to a man’s way he will let it happen to him. ¹²What’s more, God truly does not act wickedly, and Shaddai does not pervert justice. ¹³Who gave him charge over the earth? Or who laid on him the whole world? ¹⁴If he should set his heart to it, and he should gather his spirit and his breath to himself, ¹⁵all flesh would perish together, and humankind would return to dust. ¹⁶“But if you have understanding, hear this; listen to ⌞what I say⌟. ¹⁷Shall he who hates justice really govern? Or will you declare the Righteous One, the Mighty, guilty?— ¹⁸the one who says to a king, ‘You worthless man,’ to noblemen, ‘You wicked man,’ ¹⁹who ⌞shows no partiality to officials⌟ and who ⌞does not take note of the noble more than of the insignificant⌟, for all of them are the work of his hands? ²⁰In a moment they die, and in the middle of the night the people are shaken, and they pass away, and they take away the mighty ⌞effortlessly⌟. ²¹“Indeed, his eyes are upon the ways of man, and he sees all his steps. ²²There is no darkness, and there is no deep shadow where instigators of mischief might hide themselves. ²³Indeed, he has not yet appointed a time for man to go to God in the judgment. ²⁴He shatters the mighty without investigation, and he sets others in their place. ²⁵Therefore he knows their works, and he overturns them in the night ⌞so that⌟ they are crushed. ²⁶He strikes them ⌞where the wicked stood⌟, ⌞where there are onlookers⌟, ²⁷because they have turned aside from him and have not understood any of his ways, ²⁸so that they cause the cry of distress from the helpless to come to him, and he hears the cry of distress from the needy, ²⁹but he remains quiet, and who can condemn? And he hides his face, and who can behold him? Yet he is over a nation and over a person alike, ³⁰so that godless human beings should not reign, nor those who ensnare the people. ³¹“Indeed, does anyone say to God, ‘I have endured chastisement; I will not act corruptly again; ³²teach me yourself ⌞what I cannot see⌟; if I have done wrong, I will not repeat it’? ³³⌞According to your judgment⌟, must he repay it because you rejected this? Indeed, you must choose, and not I, so declare what you know. ³⁴⌞Those who have sense⌟ say to me, and the wise man hearing me says: ³⁵‘Job speaks without knowledge, and his words are without insight. ³⁶Would that Job were tested up to the end because his answers are like those from men of mischief, ³⁷for he adds transgression to his sin; he claps hands among us, and he multiplies his words against God.’ ”