for the ear tests words as the palate tastes food.
For Job has said, ‘I am in the right, and God has taken away my right;
“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.
For according to the work of a man he will repay him, and according to his ways he will make it befall him.
Of a truth, God will not do wickedly, and the Almighty will not pervert justice.
Who gave him charge over the earth, and who laid on him the whole world?
who shows no partiality to princes, nor regards the rich more than the poor, for they are all the work of his hands?
In a moment they die; at midnight the people are shaken and pass away, and the mighty are taken away by no human hand.
“For his eyes are on the ways of a man, and he sees all his steps.
He shatters the mighty without investigation and sets others in their place.
Thus, knowing their works, he overturns them in the night, and they are crushed.
so that they caused the cry of the poor to come to him, and he heard the cry of the afflicted—
that a godless man should not reign, that he should not ensnare the people.
Men of understanding will say to me, and the wise man who hears me will say:
Would that Job were tried to the end, because he answers like wicked men.
Look at the heavens, and see; and behold the clouds, which are higher than you.
“Because of the multitude of oppressions people cry out; they call for help because of the arm of the mighty.
But none says, ‘Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night,
who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds of the heavens?’
There they cry out, but he does not answer, because of the pride of evil men.
Surely God does not hear an empty cry, nor does the Almighty regard it.
How much less when you say that you do not see him, that the case is before him, and you are waiting for him!
He does not keep the wicked alive, but gives the afflicted their right.
He does not withdraw his eyes from the righteous, but with kings on the throne he sets them forever, and they are exalted.
And if they are bound in chains and caught in the cords of affliction,
But if they do not listen, they perish by the sword and die without knowledge.
“The godless in heart cherish anger; they do not cry for help when he binds them.
They die in youth, and their life ends among the cult prostitutes.
He delivers the afflicted by their affliction and opens their ear by adversity.
“But you are full of the judgment on the wicked; judgment and justice seize you.
Beware lest wrath entice you into scoffing, and let not the greatness of the ransom turn you aside.
Will your cry for help avail to keep you from distress, or all the force of your strength?
Do not long for the night, when peoples vanish in their place.
Behold, God is great, and we know him not; the number of his years is unsearchable.
For he draws up the drops of water; they distill his mist in rain,
which the skies pour down and drop on mankind abundantly.
Can anyone understand the spreading of the clouds, the thunderings of his pavilion?
Behold, he scatters his lightning about him and covers the roots of the sea.
He covers his hands with the lightning and commands it to strike the mark.
Its crashing declares his presence; the cattle also declare that he rises.
Keep listening to the thunder of his voice and the rumbling that comes from his mouth.
Under the whole heaven he lets it go, and his lightning to the corners of the earth.
After it his voice roars; he thunders with his majestic voice, and he does not restrain the lightnings when his voice is heard.
For to the snow he says, ‘Fall on the earth,’ likewise to the downpour, his mighty downpour.
He seals up the hand of every man, that all men whom he made may know it.
Then the beasts go into their lairs, and remain in their dens.
From its chamber comes the whirlwind, and cold from the scattering winds.
By the breath of God ice is given, and the broad waters are frozen fast.
He loads the thick cloud with moisture; the clouds scatter his lightning.
They turn around and around by his guidance, to accomplish all that he commands them on the face of the habitable world.
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
ESV® Permanent Text Edition (2016). The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers.
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