Elihu addresses the group of companions, seeking empathy for his derision of Job, who has deigned to challenge the dogma of divine justice. He then asserts that God is always and only just, as he appeals to the group, to Job individually, and again to the group. Elihu takes issue with Job’s arguments in chapters 21 and 24 in particular. In the end he presses Job to desist from asking the deity for explanations and to drop his lawsuit. (Elihu’s redundancies so irritated the ancient Greek translator that he omitted many repetitious lines.)
[34:1] Up spoke Elihu and he said:
[2–4] Hear my words, O men of wisdom!
Give ear to me, O men of knowledge!
“For an ear tests words
As the palate tastes food.”1
Let us examine2 the charges,
So together we can find what’s correct.3
[5–6] For Job has said, “I’m in the right;
But El’s set aside my charges.4
For the charges against me I’m pained;5
Although I’ve not sinned, my ‘arrow’6 is fatal.”
[7–9] What man like Job
Drinks scorn like water;7
And keeps company with workers of evil,
Traveling with wicked men?!8
For he’s said: “A man does not benefit
When he pleases Elohim.”9
[10–11] And so, men of mind,10
Listen to me!
Wickedness—far be it11 from El!
Far be wrongdoing from Shaddai!
For he pays a person his (fair) wage;
Provides in line with one’s conduct.
[12–13] In truth, El does not do evil;
Shaddai does not corrupt justice.12
Who gives him charge of the land?
Puts the whole earth in his hands?13
[14–15] If he returns14 its spirit to him,
And gathers its breath to himself,
All that is flesh will expire,
And the human returns to the dust.
[16] If you’ve understanding, pray hear this!15
Pray give ear to the gist16 of my words!
[17–20] Would a hater of justice bind (wounds)?17
Would you condemn the Eminently Righteous—18
Who would call19 a king worthless,
(Who would call) nobles wicked;
Who would show no favor to officers;
Nor treat20 magnates better than poor folk—
For they all are the work of his hands?
In an instant they can die,
In dead of night21 they can pass;22
They expire like a moth;23
They perish24 by no (human) hand.
[21–22] For his eyes are (trained) on the ways of a man;
And all of his steps he sees.25
There is no darkness or deathly-shade
Where workers of evil can hide.26
[23] Thus a man should no more make a case,27
To enter a lawsuit with El.
[24–27] He smashes the eminent without limit;
And installs others in their stead.
He surely knows their activities;
He turns over the night and they’re crushed!28
He strikes them down where the wicked stand,
In a place where all can see;
Because they strayed from behind him,
And none of his ways did they learn:
[28–29] To bring to him the poor man’s cry;
So he can hear the cry of the indigent.
When he calms29 (it) down,
Who would stir (it) up?30
When he hides his face,
Who could perceive it?
He looks31 over people and nations;
[30] So an impudent man does not reign—
Not one who entraps his people.32
[31–32] Thus to Eloah you must say:33
“I will bear (the yoke), I will not break (it).34
What I cannot see myself, you must teach me.
If I have done an injustice, I will do so no more.”
[33] Should he reward you as you reckon,35
Though you are “fed up”?36
(Saying,)37 “You should choose, not I.
Whatever you think—speak!”
[34–35] Men of mind38 will tell me,
Any wise man who hears me (will):
“Job speaks not from knowledge;
His words have no insight.”
[36–37] Would that Job be tested forever,
The way men of evil are answered!39
For he keeps adding to his sin;
Among us his crime is unbounded;40
And he multiplies41 words against El.
1. For “taste” as a metaphor of reason, see the comment on 6:6. For le’ekol “to eat” read lo ’okel on the basis of 12:11, where the same traditional saying is quoted. So several ancient versions.
2. In Aramaic synonymous with baḥan “test” in the preceding verse.
3. Literally, “good”; but tob has the basic meaning of “sweet.” Thus “sweet taste” (verse 3) suggests “reasonable.”
4. Quoting Job in 27:2.
5. Reading ’ek’ab for ’akazzeb “I lie, disappoint,” which makes no sense here. Compare Jeremiah 15:18.
6. Divine affliction; see 6:4.
7. Elihu turns Job’s image in 6:4 against him. He is paraphrasing Eliphaz’s parody of the spirit in 15:16.
8. Compare the scene described in Proverbs 1:10–19.
9. Job has not said precisely this; but compare Malachi 3:14.
10. Literally, “heart”; compare 12:3.
11. Elihu echoes or mimics Job’s “God forbid” in 27:5.
12. Elihu answers Bildad’s rhetorical question in 8:3.
13. Literally, “Who has imposed (on him) the entire earth?”
14. Reading yashib for yasim “he places,” with the eastern Masoretic tradition. Compare Psalm 104:29. The word libbo “his heart” in the received text was apparently added secondarily to furnish an object to “he places.”
15. The singular indicates Elihu is now addressing Job.
16. The word “voice” (qol) can by metonymy indicate a message (for example Leviticus 5:1).
17. Compare 5:18.
18. The deity. Compare God’s words in 40:8.
19. Revocalizing ha’amor “calling” as ha’omer in line with some ancient versions. The deity gives equal justice to all.
20. Literally, “recognize”; a rare usage of the Pi‘el form in this sense (so BDB).
21. Perhaps an allusion to the tenth plague in Egypt (Exodus 12:29).
22. The verse is by many modern accounts in disorder; I read the verb phrase “they pass” at the end of this line, not the next.
23. Reading yigwe‘u ‘im ‘ash for yego‘ashu ‘am “the people are in turmoil,” which is inapt; it is the death of the powerful that is relevant. For the image, compare Psalm 39:12.
24. Reading yasuru for we-yasiru “they remove.” The word ’abbir “bull, potentate” is a dittography of (lo)’ beyad “not by hand.” The scribe forgot to write the l, realized his mistake, and recopied, without erasing the mistake (see above at 22:8).
25. Compare Job in 31:4. Job has found divine surveillance to be hostile; compare 14:16.
26. Contra Job’s account in 24:14–17.
27. For this expression, see at 23:6.
28. The discourse picks up the argument of verses 21–22 above. Elihu alludes to the wording of Job, quoting the spirit, in 4:19. Compare the image used by the deity in 38:13–15.
29. More literally, “quiets.”
30. The verb hirshia‘, ordinarily “to act wickedly,” in Job has the sense of hir‘ish “to cause noise” (Ibn Ezra, Masnuth); see at 3:17.
31. The line “over people and nation together” is a fragment. For yaḥad “together” I read, with Ehrlich, yaḥaz “he looks” (short form); compare the short form ’aḥaz “I look” in 23:9.
32. In sin; compare for example Exodus 23:33; 34:12. Literally, “one of the traps of the people.” This verse continues the theme of verses 24–27.
33. Slightly redividing the words (with some moderns): ’el ’eloah ’emor for “to El be said,” which is also ungrammatical.
34. The object of the verbs is apparently the “yoke” (‘ol) of the deity; see Lamentations 3:27 and Isaiah 10:27, respectively (so Hakham).
35. Literally, “from what is with you”; for a similar usage, see 10:13.
36. Elihu alludes to Job in 7:16.
37. Compare Ehrlich, Hakham.
38. See note 10 above.
39. Literally, “through answers against men of iniquity.”
40. For sapak “be abundant,” see Isaiah 2:6.
41. The verb (yireb) puns on the term for bringing legal charges (rib).