Job
Job 32
The Three Friends Fall Silent
1 So his three friends fell quiet and said nothing more against Job, because Job was righteous in front of them. 2 Then Elihu son of Barachel, the Buzite, from the clan of Ram in the land of Ausis, grew angry. He was very angry with Job, because Job had declared himself righteous before the Lord. 3 And he was very angry with the three friends, because they could not find an answer to set against Job and yet had set him down as an ungodly man. 4 Elihu had held back from answering Job, because they were older than he was in days. 5 But when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of the three men, his anger caught fire.
Elihu Speaks
6 Then Elihu son of Barachel, the Buzite, spoke up and said:
“I am the younger in years, and you are the older;
so I kept quiet, afraid to tell you what I know.
7 I said, ‘It is time that speaks;
in many years men come to know wisdom.’
8 But there is a spirit in mortals,
and it is the breath of the Almighty that teaches.
9 The long-lived are not the wise ones,
and the old do not know judgment.
10 So I say: listen to me,
and I will tell you what I know.
11 Give ear to my words;
I will speak while you listen,
until you have tested what is said.
12 And I will understand as far as you do —
and there was no one among you to convict Job,
no one to answer his words back to him,
13 so that you cannot say, ‘We have found wisdom by taking the Lord’s side.’
14 And you have left it to a man to speak words like these.
15 They were startled, they answered no more;
they let their own arguments go stale.
16 I waited, for they did not speak;
they stood still and gave no answer.”
I Am Full of Words
17 Then Elihu spoke up again and said:
18 “I will speak again,
for I am full of words, and the spirit in my belly is killing me.
19 My belly is like a wineskin of new wine, tied shut and working,
or like a coppersmith’s bellows split open.
20 I will speak, so that I can rest;
I will open my lips.
21 I will not be shamed before any man,
and I will not back down before any mortal.
22 For I do not know how to marvel at a face;
if I did, the moths would eat me too.”