Job 36 / 42
- 1
(Elihu Extols God's Greatness)
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 with kings on the throne
he sets them 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 fatness.
- 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 force 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 his mist in rain,
- 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 the mark.
- 33
Its crashing declares his presence;
the cattle also declare that he rises.