The Bible in Basic English BBE
Good News Translation GNT
1 And Elihu made answer and said,
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You men are so wise, so clever; listen now to what I am saying.
2 Give ear, you wise, to my words; and you who have knowledge, give attention to me;
3 For words are tested by the ear, as food is tasted by the mouth.
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You know good food when you taste it, but not wise words when you hear them.
4 Let us make the decision for ourselves as to what is right; let us have the knowledge among ourselves of what is good.
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It is up to us to decide the case.
5 For Job has said, I am upright, and it is God who has taken away my right;
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Job claims that he is innocent, that God refuses to give him justice.
6 Though I am right, still I am in pain; my wound may not be made well, though I have done no wrong.
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He asks, "How could I lie and say I am wrong? I am fatally wounded, but I am sinless."
7 What man is like Job, a man who freely makes sport of God,
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Have you ever seen anyone like this man Job? He never shows respect for God.
8 And goes in the company of evil-doers, walking in the way of sinners?
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He likes the company of evil people and goes around with sinners.
9 For he has said, It is no profit to a man to take delight in God.
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He says that it never does any good to try to follow God's will.
10 Now then, you wise, take note; you men of knowledge, give ear to me. Let it be far from God to do evil, and from the Ruler of all to do wrong.
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Listen to me, you men who understand! Will Almighty God do what is wrong?
11 For he gives to every man the reward of his work, and sees that he gets the fruit of his ways.
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He rewards people for what they do and treats them as they deserve.
12 Truly, God does not do evil, and the Ruler of all is not a false judge.
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Almighty God does not do evil; he is never unjust to anyone.
13 Who put the earth into his care, or made him responsible for the world?
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Did God get his power from someone else? Did someone put him in charge of the world?
14 If he made his spirit come back to him, taking his breath into himself again,
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If God took back the breath of life,
15 All flesh would come to an end together, and man would go back to the dust.
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then everyone living would die and turn into dust again.
16 If you are wise, take note of this; give ear to the voice of my words.
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Now listen to me, if you are wise.
17 How may a hater of right be a ruler? and will you say that the upright Ruler of all is evil?
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Are you condemning the righteous God? Do you think that [he ]hates justice?
18 He who says to a king, You are an evil-doer; and to rulers, You are sinners;
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God condemns kings and rulers when they are worthless or wicked.
19 Who has no respect for rulers, and who gives no more attention to those who have wealth than to the poor, for they are all the work of his hands.
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He does not take the side of rulers nor favor the rich over the poor, for he created everyone.
20 Suddenly they come to an end, even in the middle of the night: the blow comes on the men of wealth, and they are gone, and the strong are taken away without the hand of man.
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We may suddenly die at night. God strikes us down and we perish; he kills the mighty with no effort at all.
21 For his eyes are on the ways of a man, and he sees all his steps.
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He watches every step we take.
22 There is no dark place, and no thick cloud, in which the workers of evil may take cover.
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There is no darkness dark enough to hide a sinner from God.
23 For he does not give man a fixed time to come before him to be judged.
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God does not need to set a time for us to go and be judged by him.
24 He sends the strong to destruction without searching out their cause, and puts others in their place.
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He does not need an investigation to remove leaders and replace them with others.
25 For he has knowledge of their works, overturning them in the night, so that they are crushed.
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Because he knows what they do; he overthrows them and crushes them by night.
26 The evil-doers are broken by his wrath, he puts his hand on them with force before the eyes of all onlookers.
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He punishes sinners where all can see it,
27 Because they did not go after him, and took no note of his ways,
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because they have stopped following him and ignored all his commands.
28 So that the cry of the poor might come up to him, and the prayer of those in need come to his ears.
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They forced the poor to cry out to God, and he heard their calls for help.
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If God decided to do nothing at all, no one could criticize him. If he hid his face, we would be helpless.
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There would be nothing that nations could do to keep godless oppressors from ruling them.
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Job, have you confessed your sins to God and promised not to sin again?
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Have you asked God to show you your faults, and have you agreed to stop doing evil?
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Since you object to what God does, can you expect him to do what you want? The decision is yours, not mine; tell us now what you think.
34 Men of knowledge, and all wise men, hearing me, will say,
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Any sensible person will surely agree; and the wise who hear me will say
35 Job's words do not come from knowledge; they are not the fruit of wisdom.
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that Job is speaking from ignorance and that nothing he says makes sense.
36 May Job be tested to the end, because his answers have been like those of evil men.
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Think through everything that Job says; you will see that he talks like an evil man.
37 For in addition to his sin, he is uncontrolled in heart; before our eyes he makes sport of God, increasing his words against him.
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To his sins he adds rebellion; in front of us all he mocks God.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.