Job 36–37

36Then Elihu continued, saying:

²Be patient with me a little longer, and I will inform you,

for there is still more to be said on God’s behalf.

³I will get my knowledge from a distant place

and ascribe justice to my Maker.

⁴Indeed, my words are not false;

one who has complete knowledge is with you.

⁵Yes, God is mighty, but he despises no one;

he understands all things.^Ed

⁶He does not keep the wicked alive,^e

but he gives justice to the oppressed.

⁷He does not withdraw his gaze from the righteous,

but he seats them forever with enthroned kings,

and they are exalted.

⁸If people are bound with chains

and trapped by the cords of affliction,

⁹God tells them what they have done

and how arrogantly they have transgressed.

¹⁰He opens their ears^f to correction

and tells them to repent from iniquity.

¹¹If they listen and serve him,

they will end their days in prosperity

and their years in happiness.^g

¹²But if they do not listen,

they will cross the river of death^A

and die without knowledge.^h

¹³Those who have a godless heart harbor anger;

even when God binds them, they do not cry for help.

¹⁴They die in their youth;

their life ends among male cult prostitutes.ⁱ

¹⁵God rescues the afflicted by their affliction;

he instructs them by their torment.

¹⁶Indeed, he lured you from the jaws^B of distress

to a spacious and unconfined place.

Your table was spread with choice food.

¹⁷Yet now you are obsessed with the judgment due the wicked;

judgment and justice have seized you.

¹⁸Be careful that no one lures you with riches;^C

do not let a large ransom^D lead you astray.^j

¹⁹Can your wealth^E or all your physical exertion

keep you from distress?^k

²⁰Do not long for the night

when nations will disappear from their places.

²¹Be careful that you do not turn to iniquity,

for that is why you have been tested by^F affliction.

²²Look, God shows himself exalted by his power.

Who is a teacher like him?

²³Who has appointed his way for him,

and who has declared, “You have done wrong”?^l

²⁴Remember that you should praise his work,

which people have sung about.^m

²⁵All mankind has seen it;

people have looked at it from a distance.ⁿ

²⁶Yes, God is exalted beyond our knowledge;^o

the number of his years cannot be counted.^p

²⁷For he makes waterdrops evaporate;^G

they distill the rain into its^H mist,^q

²⁸which the clouds pour out

and shower abundantly on mankind.

²⁹Can anyone understand how the clouds spread out

or how the thunder roars from God’s pavilion?^a

³⁰See how he spreads his lightning^b around him

and covers the depths of the sea.

³¹For he judges the nations with these;

he gives food in abundance.^c

³²He covers his hands with lightning

and commands it to hit its mark.

³³The^A thunder declares his presence;^B

the cattle also, the approaching storm.

37My heart^d pounds at this

and leaps from my chest.^C

²Just listen to his thunderous voice

and the rumbling that comes from his mouth.

³He lets it loose beneath the entire sky;

his lightning to the ends^e of the earth.

⁴Then there comes a roaring sound;

God thunders^f with his majestic voice.

He does not restrain the lightning

when his rumbling voice is heard.

⁵God thunders wondrously with his voice;

he does great things that we cannot comprehend.

⁶For he says to the snow,^g “Fall to the earth,”

and the torrential rains, his mighty torrential rains,

⁷serve as his sign to all mankind,

so that all men may know his work.

⁸The wild animals enter their lairs

and stay in their dens.^h

⁹The windstorm comes from its chamber,

and the cold from the driving north winds.

¹⁰Ice is formed by the breath of God,ⁱ

and watery expanses are frozen.

¹¹He saturates clouds with moisture;^j

he scatters his lightning through them.

¹²They swirl about,

turning round and round at his direction,

accomplishing everything he commands them

over the surface of the inhabited world.

¹³He causes this to happen for punishment,

for his land, or for his faithful love.

¹⁴Listen to this, Job.

Stop and consider God’s wonders.

¹⁵Do you know how God directs his clouds

or makes their lightning flash?

¹⁶Do you understand how the clouds float,

those wonderful works of him who has perfect knowledge?

¹⁷You whose clothes get hot

when the south wind brings calm to the land,

¹⁸can you help God spread out the skies

as hard as a cast metal mirror?

¹⁹Teach us what we should say to him;^k

we cannot prepare our case because of our darkness.

²⁰Should he be told that I want to speak?

Can a man speak when he is confused?

²¹Now no one can even look at the sun

when it is in the skies,

after a wind has swept through and cleared the sky.

²²Out of the north he comes, shrouded in a golden glow;

awesome^l majesty surrounds him.

²³The Almighty—we cannot reach him—

he is exalted in power!

He will not violate justice and abundant righteousness,

²⁴therefore, men fear him.

He does not look favorably on any who are wise^m in heart.