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¹“I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?

²What would be my portion from God above and my heritage from the Almighty on high?

³Is not calamity for the unrighteous, and disaster for the workers of iniquity?

⁴Does not he see my ways and number all my steps?

⁵“If I have walked with falsehood and my foot has hastened to deceit;

⁶(Let me be weighed in a just balance, and let God know my integrity!)

⁷if my step has turned aside from the way and my heart has gone after my eyes, and if any spot has stuck to my hands,

⁸then let me sow, and another eat, and let what grows for me be rooted out.

⁹“If my heart has been enticed toward a woman, and I have lain in wait at my neighbor's door,

¹⁰then let my wife grind for another, and let others bow down on her.

¹¹For that would be a heinous crime; that would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges;

¹²for that would be a fire that consumes as far as Abaddon, and it would burn to the root all my increase.

¹³“If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant, when they brought a complaint against me,

¹⁴what then shall I do when God rises up? When he makes inquiry, what shall I answer him?

¹⁵Did not he who made me in the womb make him? And did not one fashion us in the womb?

¹⁶“If I have withheld anything that the poor desired, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,

¹⁷or have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless has not eaten of it

¹⁸(for from my youth the fatherless grew up with me as with a father, and from my mother's womb I guided the widow ),

¹⁹if I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing, or the needy without covering,

²⁰if his body has not blessed me, and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep,

²¹if I have raised my hand against the fatherless, because I saw my help in the gate,

²²then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder, and let my arm be broken from its socket.

²³For I was in terror of calamity from God, and I could not have faced his majesty.

²⁴“If I have made gold my trust or called fine gold my confidence,

²⁵if I have rejoiced because my wealth was abundant or because my hand had found much,

²⁶if I have looked at the sun when it shone, or the moon moving in splendor,

²⁷and my heart has been secretly enticed, and my mouth has kissed my hand,

²⁸this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges, for I would have been false to God above.

²⁹“If I have rejoiced at the ruin of him who hated me, or exulted when evil overtook him

³⁰(I have not let my mouth sin by asking for his life with a curse),

³¹if the men of my tent have not said, ‘Who is there that has not been filled with his meat?’

³²(the sojourner has not lodged in the street; I have opened my doors to the traveler),

³³if I have concealed my transgressions as others do by hiding my iniquity in my heart,

³⁴because I stood in great fear of the multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silence, and did not go out of doors —

³⁵Oh, that I had one to hear me! (Here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me!) Oh, that I had the indictment written by my adversary!

³⁶Surely I would carry it on my shoulder; I would bind it on me as a crown;

³⁷I would give him an account of all my steps; like a prince I would approach him.

³⁸“If my land has cried out against me and its furrows have wept together,

³⁹if I have eaten its yield without payment and made its owners breathe their last,

⁴⁰let thorns grow instead of wheat, and foul weeds instead of barley.” The words of Job are ended.

¹So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes.

²Then Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, burned with anger. He burned with anger at Job because he justified himself rather than God.

³He burned with anger also at Job's three friends because they had found no answer, although they had declared Job to be in the wrong.

⁴Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job because they were older than he.

⁵And when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, he burned with anger.

⁶And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said: “I am young in years, and you are aged; therefore I was timid and afraid to declare my opinion to you.

⁷I said, ‘Let days speak, and many years teach wisdom.’

⁸But it is the spirit in man, the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand.

⁹It is not the old who are wise, nor the aged who understand what is right.

¹⁰Therefore I say, ‘Listen to me; let me also declare my opinion.’

¹¹“Behold, I waited for your words, I listened for your wise sayings, while you searched out what to say.

¹²I gave you my attention, and, behold, there was none among you who refuted Job or who answered his words.

¹³Beware lest you say, ‘We have found wisdom; God may vanquish him, not a man.’

¹⁴He has not directed his words against me, and I will not answer him with your speeches.

¹⁵“They are dismayed; they answer no more; they have not a word to say.

¹⁶And shall I wait, because they do not speak, because they stand there, and answer no more?

¹⁷I also will answer with my share; I also will declare my opinion.

¹⁸For I am full of words; the spirit within me constrains me.

¹⁹Behold, my belly is like wine that has no vent; like new wineskins ready to burst.

²⁰I must speak, that I may find relief; I must open my lips and answer.

²¹I will not show partiality to any man or use flattery toward any person.

²²For I do not know how to flatter, else my Maker would soon take me away.

¹“But now, hear my speech, O Job, and listen to all my words.

²Behold, I open my mouth; the tongue in my mouth speaks.

³My words declare the uprightness of my heart, and what my lips know they speak sincerely.

⁴The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.

⁵Answer me, if you can; set your words in order before me; take your stand.

⁶Behold, I am toward God as you are; I too was pinched off from a piece of clay.

⁷Behold, no fear of me need terrify you; my pressure will not be heavy upon you.

⁸“Surely you have spoken in my ears, and I have heard the sound of your words.

⁹You say, ‘I am pure, without transgression; I am clean, and there is no iniquity in me.

¹⁰Behold, he finds occasions against me, he counts me as his enemy,

¹¹he puts my feet in the stocks and watches all my paths.’

¹²“Behold, in this you are not right. I will answer you, for God is greater than man.

¹³Why do you contend against him, saying, ‘He will answer none of man's words’?

¹⁴For God speaks in one way, and in two, though man does not perceive it.

¹⁵In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, while they slumber on their beds,

¹⁶then he opens the ears of men and terrifies them with warnings,

¹⁷that he may turn man aside from his deed and conceal pride from a man;

¹⁸he keeps back his soul from the pit, his life from perishing by the sword.

¹⁹“Man is also rebuked with pain on his bed and with continual strife in his bones,

²⁰so that his life loathes bread, and his appetite the choicest food.

²¹His flesh is so wasted away that it cannot be seen, and his bones that were not seen stick out.

²²His soul draws near the pit, and his life to those who bring death.

²³If there be for him an angel, a mediator, one of the thousand, to declare to man what is right for him,

²⁴and he is merciful to him, and says, ‘Deliver him from going down into the pit; I have found a ransom;

²⁵let his flesh become fresh with youth; let him return to the days of his youthful vigor’;

²⁶then man prays to God, and he accepts him; he sees his face with a shout of joy, and he restores to man his righteousness.

²⁷He sings before men and says: ‘I sinned and perverted what was right, and it was not repaid to me.

²⁸He has redeemed my soul from going down into the pit, and my life shall look upon the light.’

²⁹“Behold, God does all these things, twice, three times, with a man,

³⁰to bring back his soul from the pit, that he may be lighted with the light of life.

³¹Pay attention, O Job, listen to me; be silent, and I will speak.

³²If you have any words, answer me; speak, for I desire to justify you.

³³If not, listen to me; be silent, and I will teach you wisdom.”

¹Then Elihu answered and said:

²“Hear my words, you wise men, and give ear to me, you who know;

³for the ear tests words as the palate tastes food.

⁴Let us choose what is right; let us know among ourselves what is good.

⁵For Job has said, ‘I am in the right, and God has taken away my right;

⁶in spite of my right I am counted a liar; my wound is incurable, though I am without transgression.’

⁷What man is like Job, who drinks up scoffing like water,

⁸who travels in company with evildoers and walks with wicked men?

⁹For he has said, ‘It profits a man nothing that he should take delight in God.’

¹⁰“Therefore, hear me, you men of understanding: far be it from God that he should do wickedness, and from the Almighty that he should do wrong.

¹¹For according to the work of a man he will repay him, and according to his ways he will make it befall him.

¹²Of a truth, God will not do wickedly, and the Almighty will not pervert justice.

¹³Who gave him charge over the earth, and who laid on him the whole world?

¹⁴If he should set his heart to it and gather to himself his spirit and his breath,

¹⁵all flesh would perish together, and man would return to dust.

¹⁶“If you have understanding, hear this; listen to what I say.

¹⁷Shall one who hates justice govern? Will you condemn him who is righteous and mighty,

¹⁸who says to a king, ‘Worthless one,’ and to nobles, ‘Wicked man,’

¹⁹who shows no partiality to princes, nor regards the rich more than the poor, for they are all the work of his hands?

²⁰In a moment they die; at midnight the people are shaken and pass away, and the mighty are taken away by no human hand.

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

²²There is no gloom or deep darkness where evildoers may hide themselves.

²³For God has no need to consider a man further, that he should go before God in judgment.

²⁴He shatters the mighty without investigation and sets others in their place.

²⁵Thus, knowing their works, he overturns them in the night, and they are crushed.

²⁶He strikes them for their wickedness in a place for all to see,

²⁷because they turned aside from following him and had no regard for any of his ways,

²⁸so that they caused the cry of the poor to come to him, and he heard the cry of the afflicted —

²⁹When he is quiet, who can condemn? When he hides his face, who can behold him, whether it be a nation or a man? —

³⁰that a godless man should not reign, that he should not ensnare the people.

³¹“For has anyone said to God, ‘I have borne punishment; I will not offend any more;

³²teach me what I do not see; if I have done iniquity, I will do it no more’?

³³Will he then make repayment to suit you, because you reject it? For you must choose, and not I; therefore declare what you know.

³⁴Men of understanding will say to me, and the wise man who hears me will say:

³⁵‘Job speaks without knowledge; his words are without insight.’

³⁶Would that Job were tried to the end, because he answers like wicked men.

³⁷For he adds rebellion to his sin; he claps his hands among us and multiplies his words against God.”