Job 36

¹And Elihu continued , and said :

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

¹⁶He 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 fatness .

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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