What happensPermalink
Elihu calls on the wise to test his words. He quotes Job as saying that God has taken away his right and that righteousness brings no profit. Elihu insists that God cannot do wickedness or pervert justice, for He gives people according to their deeds and sees all their steps. God rules impartially over princes and the poor, hears the cry of the afflicted, and needs no trial to know the truth. Elihu concludes that Job speaks without knowledge and adds rebellion to his sin.
Why it mattersPermalink
Elihu rightly defends God’s justice, sovereignty, and perfect knowledge; God never needs evidence brought before him as human judges do. But Elihu mistakes defense of God for dismissal of Job. By treating Job’s protest as rebellion, he repeats the debate’s central error: he tries to explain what the reader knows remains hidden.
Key versePermalink
Of a truth, God will not do wickedly, and the Almighty will not pervert justice.