Job 36–37

36TH CHAPTER

Elihu Continues: Hear Me Out

¹Elihu continued to speak ⸤to Job⸥, 

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

that there is more to be said in God’s defense. 

³I will get my knowledge from far away 

and prove that my Creator is fair. 

⁴Certainly, my words are not lies. 

The one who knows everything is ⸤speaking⸥ with you. 

God’s Justice Is Beyond Human Understanding

⁵“Certainly, God is mighty. 

He doesn’t despise anyone. 

He is mighty and brave. 

⁶He doesn’t allow the wicked person to live. 

He grants justice to those who are oppressed. 

⁷He doesn’t take his eyes off righteous people. 

He seats them on thrones with kings to honor them forever. 

⁸However, if righteous people are bound in chains 

and tangled in ropes of misery, 

⁹he tells them what they’ve done wrong 

and that they’ve behaved arrogantly. 

¹⁰He makes them listen to his warning 

and orders them to turn away from wrong. 

¹¹“If righteous people listen and serve ⸤him⸥, 

they will live out their days in prosperity 

and their years in comfort. 

¹²But if they don’t listen, 

they will cross the River ⸤of Death⸥ 

and die like those who have no knowledge. 

¹³But those who have godless hearts remain angry. 

They don’t even call for help when he chains them up. 

¹⁴They die while they’re young, 

or they live on as male prostitutes in the temples of idols. 

¹⁵He rescues suffering people through their suffering, 

and he opens their ears through distress. 

¹⁶“Yes, he lured you away from the jaws of trouble 

into an open area where you were not restrained, 

and your table was covered with rich foods. 

¹⁷But you are given the judgment evil people deserve. 

A fair judgment will be upheld. 

¹⁸Be careful that you are not led astray with riches. 

Don’t let a large bribe turn you ⸤to evil ways⸥. 

¹⁹Will your riches save you from having to suffer? 

Will all your mighty strength help you? 

²⁰Don’t look forward to the night, 

when people disappear from their places. 

²¹Be careful! Don’t turn to evil, 

because you have chosen evil instead of suffering. 

²²“God does great things by his power. 

Is there any teacher like him? 

²³Who can tell him which way he should go? 

Who can say to him, ‘You did wrong’? 

²⁴Remember that you should praise his work. 

People have sung about it. 

²⁵Every person has seen it. 

Mortals have looked at it from a distance. 

²⁶“Certainly, God is so great 

that he is beyond our understanding. 

The number of his years cannot be counted. 

²⁷He collects drops of water. 

He distills rain from his mist, 

²⁸which then drips from the clouds. 

It pours down on many people. 

²⁹Can anyone really understand how clouds spread out 

or how he thunders from his dwelling place? 

³⁰Look, he scatters his flashes of lightning around him 

and covers the depths of the sea. 

³¹This is how he uses the rains to provide for people 

and to give them more than enough food. 

³²He fills his hands with lightning 

and orders it to hit the target. 

³³The thunder announces his coming. 

The storm announces his angry wrath. 

37TH CHAPTER

Elihu Continues: God’s Ways Are Beyond Human Understanding

¹“My heart pounds because of this 

and jumps out of its place. 

²Listen! Listen to the roar of God’s voice, 

to the rumbling that comes from his mouth. 

³He flashes his lightning everywhere under heaven. 

His light flashes to the ends of the earth. 

⁴It is followed by the roar of his voice. 

He thunders with his majestic voice. 

He doesn’t hold the lightning back when his thunder is heard. 

⁵God’s voice thunders in miraculous ways. 

It does great things that we cannot understand. 

⁶“He says to the snow, ‘Fall to the ground,’ 

and to the pouring rain, ‘Rain harder!’ 

⁷He makes it impossible to do anything^a

so that people will recognize his work. 

⁸Animals go into their dens 

and stay in their lairs. 

⁹A storm comes out of its chamber. 

It is cold because of the strong winds. 

¹⁰God’s breath produces ice, 

and the seas freeze over. 

¹¹Yes, he loads the thick clouds with moisture 

and scatters his lightning from the clouds. 

¹²He guides the clouds as they churn round and round 

over the face of the inhabited earth 

to do everything he orders them. 

¹³Whether for discipline, 

or for ⸤the good of⸥ his earth, 

or out of mercy, 

he makes the storm appear. 

¹⁴“Open your ears to this, Job. 

Stop and consider God’s miracles. 

¹⁵Do you know how God controls them 

and makes the lightning flash from his clouds? 

¹⁶Do you know how the clouds drift 

(these are the miracles of the one who knows everything), 

¹⁷you whose clothes are hot and sweaty, 

when the earth is calm under a south wind? 

¹⁸Can you stretch out the skies with him 

and make them as firm as a mirror made of metal? 

¹⁹Teach us what we should say to him. 

We are unable to prepare ⸤a case⸥ because of darkness. 

²⁰Should he be told that I want to speak? 

Can a person speak when he is confused? 

²¹People can’t look at the sun 

when it’s bright among the clouds 

or after the wind has blown and cleared those clouds away. 

²²A golden light comes from the north. 

A terrifying majesty is around God. 

²³The Almighty, whom we can’t reach, 

is great in power and judgment, 

has more than enough righteousness, 

and does not oppress. 

²⁴That is why people should fear him. 

He does not respect those who think they’re wise.”