^34:1 Elihu also, pronouncing, spoke these things:
^34:2 Hear my words, you wise men, and you learned, listen to me.
^34:3 For the ear tests words, and the throat judges foods by taste.
^34:4 Let us choose judgment for ourselves, and among ourselves let us see what is better.
^34:5 For you have said, Job: I am just, and God has subverted my judgment.
^34:6 For in judging me there is falsehood, and my arrow is violent without sin.
^34:7 What man is there as Job is? He drinks derision like water,
^34:8 who walks with those who work iniquity and goes with impious men.
^34:9 For he said: A man will not please God, even if he runs with him.
^34:10 Therefore, men of understanding, hear me. Far be impiety from God and iniquity from the Almighty.
^34:11 For he will render to man his work, and according to the ways of each one he will restore to them.
^34:12 For truly God will not condemn in vain, nor will the Almighty subvert judgment.
^34:13 Whom has he appointed as another over the earth? Or whom has he placed over the world that he fashioned?
^34:14 If he directs his heart to him, he will draw his spirit and breath to himself.
^34:15 All flesh will fail together, and man will return to ashes.
^34:16 If, therefore, you have understanding, hear what is said and listen to the voice of my eloquence.
^34:17 Can he who does not love judgment be healed? And how do you condemn him who is just to such a degree?
^34:18 He who says to a king: Apostate! who calls leaders impious,
^34:19 who does not accept the persons of princes, nor has he known the tyrant when he disputes against the poor man: for they are all the work of his hands.
^34:20 They will die suddenly, and in the middle of the night peoples will be disturbed, and they will pass away; and they will take away the violent man without a hand.
^34:21 For his eye is upon the ways of men, and he considers all their steps.
^34:22 There are no darknesses and no shadow of death, that those who work iniquity may be hidden there.
^34:23 For it is no longer in man’s power that he should come to God in judgment.

446. Elihu also, pronouncing, spoke these things, etc. After Elihu had reproved Job for desiring to dispute with God, he approaches disputing against those two things that he had set forth above. And first he disputes against that which, as it seemed to him, Job had said, that divine judgment is unjust; and because this matter is very difficult and sublime, he is not content in this disputation to direct his words to Job alone, especially because he thought him to be in error in this matter, but he invokes the wise to judge this matter. Now some men consider wisdom through themselves, and with respect to this he says: Hear my words, you wise men; but some are instructed concerning those things that pertain to wisdom, and with respect to this he adds: and you learned, namely, by others, listen to me. But why he invites others to listen he shows, adding: For the ear tests words, as though saying: I invite you to this, that, hearing my words, you may judge them; and he introduces a likeness when he adds: and the throat judges foods by taste, as though saying: as taste has to judge foods, so hearing has to judge words. But to what these things pertain he explains, adding: Let us choose judgment for ourselves, as though saying: by common consent let us judge what is more true, and this is what he adds: and among ourselves let us see what is better, namely, whether what Job has said, or that which I am about to say against him.

447. Hence he consequently proposes the word of Job, adding: For you have said, Job: I am just; he had said this same thing above in 27:6: I will not abandon my justification, which I have begun to hold, and above in chapter 31 he had further manifested his justice with respect to many things. But he adds: and God has subverted my judgment, and he takes this same thing from the fact that Job had said above in 27:2: As God lives, who has taken away my judgment, and what he had said above in 19:6 seems to pertain to the same thing: God has afflicted me with a judgment that is not equal. Elihu indeed interpreted these words for the worse:

For Job had said that his judgment had been taken away because he judged that the punishments inflicted on him were not from a judgment punishing fault, but from a providence proving justice; whence above in 23:10 he had said: He will test me like gold that passes through fire. But not everyone who does not use judgment subverts judgment, but only the one who brings forth an unjust judgment. Thus, therefore, he interpreted what Job had said, God has taken away my judgment, as if he had said: God has subverted my judgment by judging unjustly; whence he adds: For in judging me there is falsehood, that is, falsity of judgment. Job indeed had never said this, but Elihu believed this to be his intention in the preceding words, as though he said that he had been punished unjustly. Now Elihu had conceived this opinion because he did not see how someone could be afflicted without sin except unjustly; and because Job said that he was without sin, he judged that Job felt himself to have been struck by God through violence contrary to justice, whence he adds: and my arrow is violent without sin, as though Job had said: since I am without sin, the arrow by which God has wounded me, that is, the adversity sent upon me, was violent, not just; and he seems to allude to the words of Job by which he had said above: The arrows of the Lord are in me.

448. Therefore, after Elihu had imposed this perversity upon Job himself, he begins to reproach him over this, saying: What man is there as Job is? As though to say: no one who seems to be a man is so perverse as he; for the greatest perversity seems to be that someone should mock God by disparaging his judgments, whence he adds: who drinks derision, that is, mockery and rejection of divine judgments, like water, which is drunk easily and with refreshment, as if he were imposing on him that breaking out into insults against God was for him a refreshment amid tribulation and that he did this without the obstacle of a contradicting conscience. Now it is usually characteristic of those who wish to persevere in sins to despise divine judgments, whence he adds: who walks, that is, consents, with those who work iniquity, namely, those who despise divine judgments; but men acting against the piety of divine religion not only despise divine judgments but even deny them or assert that they are unjust, and he believed Job to be a sharer with them, whence he adds: and goes with impious men, namely, those who cast aside the piety of divine religion. But why he says that he consents with them he shows, adding: For he said: A man will not please God, even if he runs with him, that is, even if he has followed him along the way of justice. Job, however, had not said this, but Elihu, misusing his words, imposes this upon him; for Job had said above in 23:11: My foot has followed his steps, and afterwards, above in 30:21, he had said: You have changed toward me into a cruel one, and in the hardness of your hand you oppose me. From these words he believed that Job felt that he displeased God although he had followed him; but Job had referred the aforesaid words to exterior persecution, not to interior reprobation.

449. Therefore, because Elihu, misusing the words of Job, was striving to impose on him what he did not feel nor had understood in his words, it is manifest that the whole following disputation was not against Job. Yet because Elihu judged Job to be of such perversity that he considered God’s judgment unjust, he disdains to challenge him to a disputation over this, but calls upon other wise men to judge, whence he adds: Therefore, men of understanding, that is, those who understand, hear me: for just as the heart is the principle of bodily life, so the intellect is the principle of the whole intellectual life; whence above in 12:3 he had used heart for intellect, saying: and I have a heart, just as you do.

450. Now in his disputation Elihu first proposes what he intends to prove, namely, that there can be no injustice in divine judgment: for he is God, to whom the worship of piety is owed, and through his omnipotence he has dominion over all, establishing the laws of justice for man; and therefore it would be contrary to his divinity if he favored impiety, and for this reason he says: Far be impiety from God; it would also be contrary to the dominion of his omnipotence if he inclined to injustice, whence he adds: and from the Almighty iniquity, namely, let it be far. But having removed divine injustice, he shows the mode of divine justice, adding: For he will render to man his work, that is, he will repay him good or evil for his works; and because, among those who act well, some act better than others, and among those who act badly, some sin more than others, he therefore adds: and according to the ways of each one he will restore to them, namely, better things to the better and worse things to the worse.

451. But that there is no injustice in God he proves first from this: that if he himself were unjust, justice would be found nowhere, because the universal judgment of all pertains to him; whence he adds: Whom has he appointed as another over the earth? As though he said: is it to be believed that someone has been appointed by God who would judge the whole earth justly, if there were iniquity with him? But he says that it should not be believed that another judges the earth because the maker of the world and its governor are the same; whence, just as he committed to no other the making of the world, so he has set no other over the governance of the world, and this is what he adds: Or whom has he placed over the world that he fashioned?, that is, as governor of the whole world? As though he said: no one, because just as he fashioned the world by himself, so also by himself he governs and judges the world; indeed, he has executors of his governance as ministers, but he himself is the orderer of all things. Now it is in no way possible that the universal governance of the world should be unjust.

452. Second, he shows that there is no violence and iniquity with God by experience: for so great is his power by which he preserves things in being that, if he wished to use violence against justice, he could suddenly destroy all men; whence he adds: If he directs, namely God, toward him, namely, toward crushing man, his heart, that is, his will, his spirit, that is, his soul, and breath, that is, bodily life following from the soul, he will draw to himself, namely, separating him from the body by his power, according to that last chapter of Ecclesiastes: and the spirit returns to God who gave it. But once the spirit divinely given to man has been taken away, it follows that fleshly life fails, whence he adds: All flesh will fail together, that is, the form of flesh will cease, and it will be further resolved into its components, whence he adds: and man will return to ashes, according to the Psalm: You will take away their spirit, and they will fail, and they will return to their dust. But he names the dust into which the flesh is dissolved ashes, either because among the ancients the bodies of the dead, burned by fire, were dissolved into ashes, or because the things into which a dead body is dissolved are certain remnants of the natural heat that flourished in the human body. Therefore, because it is so easy for God, if he wills, to reduce the whole human race to ashes, from the very preservation of men it appears that he does not use unjust violence against them.

453. Therefore, because Elihu thought the aforesaid arguments to be sufficient, he invites Job to consider them when he adds: If, therefore, you have understanding, namely, so that you can perceive the force of my arguments, hear what is said, namely, with your exterior ears, and with interior attention listen to the voice of my eloquence, namely, so that you may recognize the justice of divine judgment. To this he also induces him from his own danger or benefit when he adds: Can he who does not love judgment be healed? As though he said: you, who need to be healed, as one oppressed by many infirmities, cannot obtain this unless you love divine judgment.

He consequently disproves his opinion, which he thought concerned the injustice of divine judgment, by many evident signs of divine justice, whence he adds: And how do you condemn him, namely God, who is just, as is manifest in many ways, to such a degree that you would call him a subverter of judgment?

Now for the commendation of divine justice, he first assumes that God does not accept the persons of the powerful, but reproves and punishes them for their sins. Among human powers, however, royal dignity excels, and with respect to this he first says: He who, namely God, says to a king: Apostate! That is, he does not fear to reprove a king for apostasy from his proper profession, by which he professes that he will preserve justice;

but the second place is held by the leaders of armies, concerning whom he adds: who calls leaders impious, as though saying: he does not fear to reprove them for cruelty;

in the third place he sets rulers of cities, when he adds: who does not accept the persons of princes, so as not, namely, to reprove and judge them for sins;

but in the fourth place he touches on those who do not have legitimate but usurped power, namely tyrants, and with respect to this he adds: nor has he known, that is, approved, the tyrant, namely, by deferring to him, when he disputes, namely, the tyrant, against the poor man. As though he said: he does not favor the powerful against the powerless, which pertains to his justice. And why he does not defer to them he adds: for they are all the work of his hands, namely, both great and small, and therefore he does not despise the small but loves them as his own works, nor does he fear the powerful, since they are subject to his power.

454. And lest someone believe that God only reproves the powerful, but does not punish them further, there is added concerning their twofold punishment:

first indeed concerning death coming upon them unexpectedly, whence it is added: They will die suddenly, according to Isaiah 30:13: suddenly, when it is not expected, his crushing will come; for if death came upon them in the accustomed way, as expected, this would not be imputed to divine judgment but to lower causes.

Second, he sets down the punishment of rebellion by subjects, through which they lose power, whence he adds: and in the middle of the night peoples will be bent down, that is, peoples subject to kings and princes are suddenly bent, by some hidden plot, toward deserting their princes; whence he adds: and they will pass away, namely, changing dominion, and they will take away, that is, depose from dominion or even kill, the violent man, that is, the one who, spurning justice, was inflicting violence on his subjects, without a hand, namely, of armed men:

for when some prince is taken away by foreigners, it is required that there be an armed hand against him; but when the subjects, in whom his whole power consisted, suddenly desert him, he seems to be taken away without a hand. Although this can also be referred to the punishment of peoples, the first interpretation is better, because the present matter concerns the justice that God exercises upon the great, while afterwards there will be discussion of the justice that he exercises upon peoples. But so that punishments of this kind may be believed to come from divine judgment, he adds: For his eye, that is, the foresight of divine providence, is upon the ways of men, that is, upon their works; and to express that God knows all particular things in human works individually, he adds: and all their steps, that is, all the processes of human operations, he considers, namely, distinctly, not only in general.

455. Now someone could believe that because God is light, while the impious are in darkness, they are hidden from God; but he excludes this, adding: There are no darknesses, namely, of ignorance, and no shadow of death, that is, the obscurity of fault leading to death, that those who work iniquity may be hidden there, as though, namely, just as they do not wish to know God, so God would not know them; yet he is said not to know them by reprobating them. And because he had said that princes suddenly die and are taken away for their sins, which seems to be an irremediable punishment, he consequently shows the reason for this from the fact that, once God judges that man is to be condemned finally for his sins, there is not given to man any further capacity to contend, as it were, in judgment with God; and this is what he adds: For it is no longer, namely, after God judges that he is to be condemned, in man’s power that he should come to God in judgment, as though, namely, God would be about to retract his judgment on account of him. And he seemed to say this especially against Job, who, after he had been condemned to punishment, had said above in 23:3: I will come even to his throne; I will set judgment before him.