Job 36

¹ And Elihu continued and said:

² Bear with me a little, and I will show you,
for I have yet something to say on God's behalf.

³ I will get my knowledge from afar
and ascribe righteousness to my Maker.

⁴ For truly my words are not false;
one who is perfect in knowledge is with you.

⁵ Behold, God is mighty and does not despise any;
he is mighty in strength of understanding.

⁶ He does not keep the wicked alive
but gives the afflicted their right.

⁷ He does not withdraw his eyes from the righteous
but seats them with kings forever,
and they are exalted.

⁸ And if they are bound in chains
and caught in the cords of affliction,

⁹ then he declares to them their work
and their transgressions, that they are behaving arrogantly.

¹⁰ He opens their ears to instruction
and commands that they return from iniquity.

¹¹ If they listen and serve him,
they complete their days in prosperity
and their years in pleasantness.

¹² But if they do not listen, they perish by the sword
and die without knowledge.

¹³ The godless in heart cherish anger;
they do not cry for help when he binds them.

¹⁴ They die in youth,
and their life ends among the cult prostitutes.

¹⁵ He delivers the afflicted by their affliction
and opens their ear by adversity.

¹⁶ He also allured you out of distress
into a broad place where there was no cramping,
and what was set on your table was full of richness.

¹⁷ But you are full of the judgment on the wicked;
judgment and justice seize you.

¹⁸ Beware lest wrath entice you into scoffing,
and let not the greatness of the ransom turn you aside.

¹⁹ Will your cry for help avail
to keep you from distress,
or all the forces of your strength?

²⁰ Do not long for the night,
when peoples vanish in their place.

²¹ Take care; do not turn to iniquity,
for this you have chosen rather than affliction.

²² Behold, God is exalted in his power;
who is a teacher like him?

²³ Who has prescribed for him his way,
or who can say, 'You have done wrong'?

²⁴ Remember to extol his work,
of which men have sung.

²⁵ All mankind has looked on it;
man beholds it from afar.

²⁶ Behold, God is great, and we know him not;
the number of his years is unsearchable.

²⁷ For he draws up the drops of water;
they distill rain from his mist,

²⁸ which the skies pour down
and drop on mankind abundantly.

²⁹ Can anyone understand the spreading of the clouds,
the thunderings of his pavilion?

³⁰ Behold, he scatters his lightning about him
and covers the roots of the sea.

³¹ For by these he judges peoples;
he gives food in abundance.

³² He covers his hands with the lightning
and commands it to strike its mark.

³³ Its crashing declares his presence;
the cattle also declare that he is coming.