Job 36
1 Elihu continued on and said,
And Elihu adds and says:
2 “Permit me to speak a little longer, and I will show you some things because I have a little more to say in defense of God.
“Honor me a little, and I show you, That yet for God [are] words.
3 I will obtain my knowledge from far off; I will acknowledge that righteousness belongs to my Maker.
I lift up my knowledge from afar, And I ascribe righteousness to my Maker.
4 For indeed, my words will not be false; someone who is mature in knowledge is with you.
For my words [are] truly not false, The perfect in knowledge [is] with you.
5 See, God is mighty, and despises no one; he is mighty in strength of understanding.
Behold, God [is] mighty, and does not despise, Mighty [in] power [and] heart.
6 He does not preserve the life of wicked people but instead does what is right for those who suffer.
He does not revive the wicked, And appoints the judgment of the poor;
7 He does not withdraw his eyes from righteous people but instead sets them on thrones like kings forever, and they are lifted up.
He does not withdraw His eyes from the righteous, And [from] kings on the throne, And causes them to sit forever, and they are high,
8 If they are bound in chains and trapped in cords of suffering,
And if prisoners in chains They are captured with cords of affliction,
9 then he reveals to them what they have done, and their transgressions and their pride.
Then He declares to them their work, And their transgressions, Because they have become mighty,
10 He also opens their ears to his instruction, and commands them to turn back from iniquity.
And He uncovers their ear for instruction, And commands that they turn back from iniquity.
11 If they listen to him and worship him, they will spend their days in prosperity, their years in contentment.
If they hear and serve, They complete their days in good, And their years in pleasantness.
12 However, if they do not listen, they will perish by the sword; they will die because they have no knowledge.
And if they do not listen, They pass away by the dart, And expire without knowledge.
13 Those who are godless in heart store up their anger; they do not cry out for help even when God ties them up.
And the profane in heart set the face, They do not cry when He has bound them.
14 They die in their youth; their lives end among the cultic prostitutes.
Their soul dies in youth, And their life among the defiled.
15 God rescues afflicted people by means of their afflictions; he opens their ears by means of their oppression.
He draws out the afflicted in his affliction, And uncovers their ear in oppression.
16 Indeed, he would like to draw you out of distress into a broad place where there is no hardship and where your table would be set with food full of fatness.
And He also moved you from a narrow place [To] a broad place—no constriction under it, And the sitting beyond of your table has been full of fatness.
17 But you are full of judgment on wicked people; judgment and justice have laid hold of you.
And you have fulfilled the judgment of the wicked, Judgment and justice are upheld because of fury,
18 Do not let your anger entice you to mockery, or the greatness of a ransom to turn you aside.
Lest He move you with a stroke, And the abundance of an atonement not turn you aside.
19 Can your wealth benefit you, so that you will not be in distress, or can all the force of your strength help you?
Does He value your riches? He has gold, and all the forces of power.
20 Do not desire the night, to commit sin against others, when peoples are cut off in their place.
Do not desire the night, For the going up of peoples in their stead.
21 Be careful that you do not turn to sin because you are being tested by suffering so that you will stay away from sinning.
Take heed—do not turn to iniquity, For you have fixed on this Rather than [on] affliction.
22 See, God is exalted in his power; who is a teacher like him?
Behold, God sits on high by His power, Who [is] like Him—a teacher?
23 Who has ever instructed him about his way? Who can ever say to him, 'You have committed unrighteousness?'
Who has appointed to Him His way? And who said, You have done iniquity?
24 Remember to praise his deeds, of which people have sung.
Remember that you magnify His work That men have beheld.
25 All people have looked on those deeds, but they see those deeds only from far away.
All men have looked on it, Man looks attentively from afar.
26 See, God is great, but we do not understand him well; the number of his years is incalculable.
Behold, God [is] high, And we do not know the number of His years, Indeed, there [is] no searching.
27 For he draws up the drops of water that he distills as rain from his vapor,
When He diminishes droppings of the waters, They refine rain according to its vapor,
28 which the clouds pour down and drop in abundance on mankind.
Which clouds drop, They distill on man abundantly.
29 Indeed, can anyone understand the extensive spread of the clouds and the thunder from his hut?
Indeed, do [any] understand The spreadings out of a cloud? The noises of His dwelling place?
30 See, he spreads his lightning around him and covers the roots of the sea.
Behold, He has spread His light over it, And He has covered the roots of the sea,
31 In this way he judges the peoples and gives food in abundance.
For He judges peoples by them, He gives food in abundance.
32 He fills his hands with the lightning until he commands it to strike its mark.
By two palms He has covered the light, And lays a charge over it in meeting,
33 Its thunder warns of the storm, the cattle can also hear it is coming.
His shout shows it, The livestock also, the rising [storm].”
