Job 34

• 1. Then Elihu said:
• 2. "Listen to me, you wise men. Pay attention, you who have knowledge.
• 3. `Just as the mouth tastes good food, the ear tests the words it hears.'
• 4. So let us discern for ourselves what is right; let us learn together what is good.
• 5. For Job has said, `I am innocent, but God has taken away my rights.
• 6. I am innocent, but they call me a liar. My suffering is incurable, even though I have not sinned.'
• 7. "Has there ever been a man as arrogant as Job, with his thirst for irreverent talk?
• 8. He seeks the companionship of evil people. He spends his time with wicked men.
• 9. He has even said, `Why waste time trying to please God?'
• 10. "Listen to me, you who have understanding. Everyone knows that God doesn't sin! The Almighty can do no wrong.
• 11. He repays people according to their deeds. He treats people according to their ways.
• 12. There is no truer statement than this: God will not do wrong. The Almighty cannot twist justice.
• 13. Who put the world in his care? Who has set the whole world in place?
• 14. If God were to take back his spirit and withdraw his breath,
• 15. all life would cease, and humanity would turn again to dust.
• 16. "Listen now and try to understand.
• 17. Could God govern if he hated justice? Are you going to condemn the almighty Judge?
• 18. For he says to kings and nobles, `You are wicked and unjust.'
• 19. He doesn't care how great a person may be, and he doesn't pay any more attention to the rich than to the poor. He made them all.
• 20. In a moment they die. At midnight they all pass away; the mighty are removed without human hand.
• 21. "For God carefully watches the way people live; he sees everything they do.
• 22. No darkness is thick enough to hide the wicked from his eyes.
• 23. For it is not up to mortals to decide when to come before God in judgment.
• 24. He brings the mighty to ruin without asking anyone, and he sets up others in their places.
• 25. He watches what they do, and in the night he overturns them, destroying them.
• 26. He openly strikes them down for their wickedness.
• 27. For they turned aside from following him. They have no respect for any of his ways.
• 28. So they cause the poor to cry out, catching God's attention. Yes, he hears the cries of the needy.
• 29. When he is quiet, who can make trouble? But when he hides his face, who can find him?
• 30. He prevents the godless from ruling so they cannot be a snare to the people.
• 31. "Why don't people say to God, `I have sinned, but I will sin no more'?
• 32. Or `I don't know what evil I have done; tell me, and I will stop at once'?
• 33. "Must God tailor his justice to your demands? But you have rejected him! The choice is yours, not mine. Go ahead, share your wisdom with us.
• 34. After all, bright people will tell me, and wise people will hear me say,
• 35. `Job speaks without knowledge; his words lack insight.'
• 36. Job, you deserve the maximum penalty for the wicked way you have talked.
• 37. For now you have added rebellion and blasphemy against God to your other sins."

Job 35

• 1. Then Elihu said:
• 2. "Do you think it is right for you to claim, `I am righteous before God'?
• 3. Yet you also ask, `What's the use of living a righteous life? How will it benefit me?'
• 4. "I will answer you and all your friends, too.
• 5. Look up into the sky and see the clouds high above you.
• 6. If you sin, what do you accomplish against him? Even if you sin again and again, what effect will it have on him?
• 7. If you are good, is this some great gift to him? What could you possibly give him?
• 8. No, your sins affect only people like yourself, and your good deeds affect only other people.
• 9. "The oppressed cry out beneath the wrongs that are done to them. They groan beneath the power of the mighty.
• 10. Yet they don't ask, `Where is God my Creator, the one who gives songs in the night?
• 11. Where is the one who makes us wiser than the animals and birds?'
• 12. "And if they do cry out and God does not answer, it is because of their pride.
• 13. But it is wrong to say God doesn't listen, to say the Almighty isn't concerned.
• 14. And it is even more false to say he doesn't see what is going on. He will bring about justice if you will only wait.
• 15. But do you cry out against him because he does not respond in anger?
• 16. Job, you have protested in vain. You have spoken like a fool."

Job 36

• 1. Elihu continued speaking:
• 2. "Let me go on, and I will show you the truth of what I am saying. For I have not finished defending God!
• 3. I will give you many illustrations of the righteousness of my Creator.
• 4. I am telling you the honest truth, for I am a man of well-rounded knowledge.
• 5. "God is mighty, yet he does not despise anyone! He is mighty in both power and understanding.
• 6. He does not let the wicked live but gives justice to the afflicted.
• 7. His eyes never leave the innocent, but he establishes and exalts them with kings forever.
• 8. If troubles come upon them and they are enslaved and afflicted,
• 9. he takes the trouble to show them the reason. He shows them their sins, for they have behaved proudly.
• 10. He gets their attention and says they must turn away from evil.
• 11. "If they listen and obey God, then they will be blessed with prosperity throughout their lives. All their years will be pleasant.
• 12. But if they refuse to listen to him, they will perish in battle and die from lack of understanding.
• 13. For the godless are full of resentment. Even when he punishes them, they refuse to cry out to him for help.
• 14. They die young after wasting their lives in immoral living.
• 15. But by means of their suffering, he rescues those who suffer. For he gets their attention through adversity.
• 16. "God has led you away from danger, giving you freedom. You have prospered in a wide and pleasant valley.
• 17. But you are too obsessed with judgment on the godless. Don't worry, justice will be upheld.
• 18. But watch out, or you may be seduced with wealth. Don't let yourself be bribed into sin.
• 19. Could all your wealth and mighty efforts keep you from distress?
• 20. Do not long for the cover of night, for that is when people will be destroyed.
• 21. Be on guard! Turn back from evil, for it was to prevent you from getting into a life of evil that God sent this suffering.
• 22. "Look, God is all-powerful. Who is a teacher like him?
• 23. No one can tell him what to do. No one can say to him, `You have done wrong.'
• 24. Instead, glorify his mighty works, singing songs of praise.
• 25. Everyone has seen these things, but only from a distance.
• 26. "Look, God is exalted beyond what we can understand. His years are without number.
• 27. He draws up the water vapor and then distills it into rain.
• 28. The rain pours down from the clouds, and everyone benefits from it.
• 29. Can anyone really understand the spreading of the clouds and the thunder that rolls forth from heaven?
• 30. See how he spreads the lightning around him and how it lights up the depths of the sea.
• 31. By his mighty acts he governs the people, giving them food in abundance.
• 32. He fills his hands with lightning bolts. He hurls each at its target.
• 33. The thunder announces his presence; the storm announces his indignant anger.

New Living Translation: 164 of 324 days.