Then Elihu answered and said:

    “Hear my words, you wise men,
        and give ear to me, you who know;
    for the ear tests words
        as the palate tastes food.
    Let us choose what is right;
        let us know among ourselves what is good.
    For Job has said, ‘I am in the right,
        and God has taken away my right;
    in spite of my right I am counted a liar;
        my wound is incurable, though I am without transgression.’
    What man is like Job,
        who drinks up scoffing like water,
    who travels in company with evildoers
        and walks with wicked men?
    For he has said, ‘It profits a man nothing
        that he should take delight in God.’
    
    
    “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?
    If he should set his heart to it
        and gather to himself his spirit and his breath,
    all flesh would perish together,
        and man would return to dust.
    
    
    “If you have understanding, hear this;
        listen to what I say.
    Shall one who hates justice govern?
        Will you condemn him who is righteous and mighty,
    who says to a king, ‘Worthless one,’
        and to nobles, ‘Wicked man,’
    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.
    There is no gloom or deep darkness
        where evildoers may hide themselves.
    For God has no need to consider a man further,
        that he should go before God in judgment.
    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.
    He strikes them for their wickedness
        in a place for all to see,
    because they turned aside from following him
        and had no regard for any of his ways,
    so that they caused the cry of the poor to come to him,
        and he heard the cry of the afflicted—
    When he is quiet, who can condemn?
        When he hides his face, who can behold him,
        whether it be a nation or a man?—
    that a godless man should not reign,
        that he should not ensnare the people.
    
    
    “For has anyone said to God,
        ‘I have borne punishment; I will not offend any more;
    teach me what I do not see;
        if I have done iniquity, I will do it no more’?
    Will he then make repayment to suit you,
        because you reject it?
    For you must choose, and not I;
        therefore declare what you know.
    Men of understanding will say to me,
        and the wise man who hears me will say:
    ‘Job speaks without knowledge;
        his words are without insight.’
    Would that Job were tried to the end,
        because he answers like wicked men.
    For he adds rebellion to his sin;
        he claps his hands among us
        and multiplies his words against God.”
    
    
      And Elihu answered and said:

    “Do you think this to be just?
        Do you say, ‘It is my right before God,’
    that you ask, ‘What advantage have I?
        How am I better off than if I had sinned?’
    I will answer you
        and your friends with you.
    Look at the heavens, and see;
        and behold the clouds, which are higher than you.
    If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against him?
        And if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to him?
    If you are righteous, what do you give to him?
        Or what does he receive from your hand?
    Your wickedness concerns a man like yourself,
        and your righteousness a son of man.
    
    
    “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!
    And now, because his anger does not punish,
        and he does not take much note of transgression,
    Job opens his mouth in empty talk;
        he multiplies words without knowledge.” (ESV)

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:

    “‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
        are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
    for from you shall come a ruler
        who will shepherd my people Israel.’”
    
    
      Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.” After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

  Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

  Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:

    “A voice was heard in Ramah,
        weeping and loud lamentation,
    Rachel weeping for her children;
        she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.”
    
    
      But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee. And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene. (ESV)