Job 36:1–42:16

Eliu also proceeded, and said:

2 Suffer me a little, and I will shew thee: for I have yet somewhat to speak in God’s behalf.

3 I will repeat my knowledge from the beginning, and I will prove my Maker just.

4 For indeed my words are without a lie, and perfect knowledge shall be proved to thee.

5 God doth not cast away the mighty, whereas he himself also is mighty.

6 But he saveth not the wicked, and he giveth judgment to the poor.

7 He will not take away his eyes from the just, and he placeth kings on the throne for ever, and they are exalted.

8 And if they shall be in chains, and be bound with the cords of poverty:

9 He shall shew them their works, and their wicked deeds, because they have been violent.

10 He also shall open their ear, to correct them: and shall speak, that they may return from iniquity.

11 If they shall hear and observe, they shall accomplish their days in good, and their years in glory.

12 But if they hear not, they shall pass by the sword, and shall be consumed in folly.

13 Dissemblers and crafty men prove the wrath of God, neither shall they cry when they are bound.

14 Their soul shall die in a storm, and their life among the effeminate.

15 He shall deliver the poor out of his distress, and shall open his ear in affliction.

16 Therefore he shall set thee at large out of the narrow mouth, and which hath no foundation under it: and the rest of thy table shall be full of fatness.

17 Thy cause hath been judged as that of the wicked, cause and judgment thou shalt recover.

18 Therefore let not anger overcome thee to oppress any man: neither let multitude of gifts turn thee aside.

19 Lay down thy greatness without tribulation, and all the mighty of strength.

20 Prolong not the night that people may come up for them.

21 Beware thou turn not aside to iniquity: for this thou hast begun to follow after misery.

22 Behold, God is high in his strength, and none is like him among the lawgivers.

23 Who can search out his ways? or who can say to him: Thou hast wrought iniquity?

24 Remember that thou knowest not his work, concerning which men have sung.

25 All men see him, every one beholdeth afar off.

26 Behold, God is great, exceeding our knowledge: the number of his years is inestimable.

27 He lifteth up the drops of rain, and poureth out showers like floods:

28 Which flow from the clouds that cover all above.

29 If he will spread out clouds as his tent,

30 And lighten with his light from above, he shall cover also the ends of the sea.

31 For by these he judgeth people, and giveth food to many mortals.

32 In his hands he hideth the light, and commandeth it to come again.

33 He sheweth his friend concerning it, that it is his possession, and that he may come up to it.

Chapter 37

At this my heart trembleth, and is moved out of its place.

2 Hear ye attentively the terror of his voice, and the sound that cometh out of his mouth.

3 He beholdeth under all the heavens, and his light is upon the ends of the earth.

4 After it a noise shall roar, he shall thunder with the voice of his majesty, and shall not be found out, when his voice shall be heard.

5 God shall thunder wonderfully with his voice, he that doth great and unsearchable things.

6 He commandeth the snow to go down upon the earth, and the winter rain, and the shower of his strength.

7 He sealeth up the hand of all men, that every one may know his works.

8 Then the beast shall go into his covert, and shall abide in his den.

9 Out of the inner parts shall a tempest come, and cold out of the north.

10 When God bloweth there cometh frost, and again the waters are poured out abundantly.

11 Corn desireth clouds, and the clouds spread their light:

12 Which go round about, whithersoever the will of him that governeth them shall lead them, to whatsoever he shall command them upon the face of the whole earth:

13 Whether in one tribe, or in his own land, or in what place soever of his mercy he shall command them to be found.

14 Hearken to these things, Job: Stand, and consider the wondrous works of God.

15 Dost thou know when God commanded the rains, to shew his light of his clouds?

16 Knowest thou the great paths of the clouds, and the perfect knowledges?

17 Are not thy garments hot, when the south wind blows upon the earth?

18 Thou perhaps hast made the heavens with him, which are most strong, as if they were of molten brass.

19 Shew us what we may say to him: or we are wrapped up in darkness.

20 Who shall tell him the things I speak? even if a man shall speak, he shall be swallowed up.

21 But now they see not the light: the air on a sudden shall be thickened into clouds, and the wind shall pass and drive them away.

22 Cold cometh out of the north, and to God praise with fear.

23 We cannot find him worthily: he is great in strength, and in judgment, and in justice, and he is ineffable.

24 Therefore men shall fear him, and all that seem to themselves to be wise, shall not dare to behold him.

Chapter 38

Then the Lord answered Job out of a whirlwind, and said:

2 Who is this that wrappeth up sentences in unskilful words?

3 Gird up thy loins like a man: I will ask thee, and answer thou me.

4 Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? tell me if thou hast understanding.

5 Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest or who hath stretched the line upon it?

6 Upon what are its bases grounded? or who laid the corner stone thereof,

7 When the morning stars praised me together, and all the sons of God made a joyful melody?

8 Who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke forth as issuing out of the womb:

9 When I made a cloud the garment thereof, and wrapped it in a mist as in swaddling bands?

10 I set my bounds around it, and made it bars and doors:

11 And I said: Hitherto thou shalt come, and shalt go no further, and here thou shalt break thy swelling waves.

12 Didst thou since thy birth command the morning, and shew the dawning of the day its place?

13 And didst thou hold the extremities of the earth shaking them, and hast thou shaken the ungodly out of it?

14 The seal shall be restored as clay, and shall stand as a garment.

15 From the wicked their light shall be taken away, and the high arm shall be broken.

16 Hast thou entered into the depths of the sea, and walked in the lowest parts of the deep?

17 Have the gates of death been opened to thee, and hast thou seen the darksome doors?

18 Hast thou considered the breadth of the earth? tell me, if thou knowest all things?

19 Where is the way where light dwelleth, and where is the place of darkness?

20 That thou mayst bring every thing to its own bounds, and understand the paths of the house thereof.

21 Didst thou know then that thou shouldst be born? and didst thou know the number of thy days?

22 Hast thou entered into the storehouses of the snow, or hast thou beheld the treasures of the hail:

23 Which I have prepared for the time of the enemy, against the day of battle and war?

24 By what way is the light spread, and heat divided upon the earth?

25 Who gave a course to violent showers, or a way for noisy thunder:

26 That it should rain on the earth without man in the wilderness, where no mortal dwelleth:

27 That it should fill the desert and desolate land, and should bring forth green grass?

28 Who is the father of rain? or who begot the drops of dew?

29 Out of whose womb came the ice? and the frost from heaven who hath gendered it?

30 The waters are hardened like a stone, and the surface of the deep is congealed.

31 Shalt thou be able to join together the shining stars the Pleiades, or canst thou stop the turning about of Arcturus?

32 Canst thou bring forth the day star in its time, and make the evening star to rise upon the children of the earth?

33 Dost thou know the order of heaven, and canst thou set down the reason thereof on the earth?

34 Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that an abundance of waters may cover thee?

35 Canst thou send lightnings, and will they go, and will they return and say to thee: Here we are?

36 Who hath put wisdom in the heart of man? or who gave the cock understanding?

37 Who can declare the order of the heavens, or who can make the harmony of heaven to sleep?

38 When was the dust poured on the earth, and the clods fastened together?

39 Wilt thou take the prey for the lioness, and satisfy the appetite of her whelps,

40 When they couch in the dens and lie in wait in holes?

41 Who provideth food for the raven, when her young ones cry to God, wandering about, because they have no meat?

Chapter 39

Knowest thou the time when the wild goats bring forth among the rocks, or hast thou observed the hinds when they fawn?

2 Hast thou numbered the months of their conceiving, or knowest thou the time when they bring forth?

3 They bow themselves to bring forth young, and they cast them, and send forth roarings.

4 Their young are weaned and go to feed: they go forth, and return not to them.

5 Who hath sent out the wild ass free, and who hath loosed his bonds?

6 To whom I have given a house in the wilderness, and his dwellings in the barren land.

7 He scorneth the multitude of the city, he heareth not the cry of the driver.

8 He looketh round about the mountains of his pasture, and seeketh for every green thing,

9 Shall the rhinoceros be willing to serve thee, or will he stay at thy crib?

10 Canst thou bind the rhinoceros with thy thong to plough, or will he break the clods of the valleys after thee?

11 Wilt thou have confidence in his great strength, and leave thy labours to him?

12 Wilt thou trust him that he will render thee the seed, and gather it into thy barnfloor?

13 The wing of the ostrich is like the wings of the heron, and of the hawk.

14 When she leaveth her eggs on the earth, thou perhaps wilt warm them in the dust.

15 She forgetteth that the foot may tread upon them, or that the beasts of the field may break them.

16 She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers, she hath laboured in vain, no fear constraining her.

17 For God hath deprived…