Job 36

Elihu Says God Gives the Afflicted Justice

1 Then Elihu continued and said,

2 “Wait for me a little, and I will show you
That there ^{▼▼Lit are yet words for God}is yet more to be said in God’s behalf.
3 “I will take up my knowledge from afar,
And I will ascribe righteousness to my Maker.
4 “For truly my words are not a lie;
One who is ^{▼▼Or blameless}perfect in knowledge is with you.
5 “Behold, God is mighty but does not reject;
He is mighty in the power of His heart.
6 “He does not keep the wicked alive,
But gives justice to the afflicted.
7 “He does not withdraw His eyes from the righteous;
But with kings on the throne
He has seated them forever, and they are exalted.
8 “And if they are bound in fetters,
And are caught in the cords of affliction,
9 Then He declares to them their work
And their transgressions, that they have magnified themselves.
10 “He opens their ear to discipline,
And says that they return from wickedness.
11 “If they hear and serve Him,
They will end their days in prosperity
And their years in pleasures.
12 “But if they do not hear, they shall pass away by a weapon
And they will breathe their last without knowledge.
13 “But the godless in heart lay up anger;
They do not cry for help when He binds them.
14 “ ^{▼▼Or Their soul dies}They die in youth,
And their life perishes among the cult prostitutes.
15 “He delivers the afflicted in ^{▼▼Lit his}their affliction,
And opens their ear in ^{▼▼Or adversity}time of oppression.
16 “Then indeed, He enticed you from the mouth of distress,
Instead of it, a broad place with no constraint;
And the comfort of your table full of ^{▼▼Or rich food}fatness.
17 “But you were full of judgment on the wicked;
Judgment and justice take hold of you.
18 “Beware lest wrath entice you to scoffing;
And do not let the greatness of the atonement turn you aside.
19 “Will your ^{▼▼Or riches}cries keep you from distress,
Or all the forces of your power?
20 “Do not long for the night,
When people ^{▼▼Lit go up}vanish in their place.
21 “Be careful, do not turn to wickedness,
For you have chosen this to affliction.
22 “Behold, God is exalted in His power;
Who is a teacher like Him?
23 “Who has appointed Him His way,
And who has said, ‘You have worked out ^{▼▼Or injustice}unrighteousness’?
24 “Remember that you should exalt His work,
Of which men have sung.
25 “All men have beheld it;
Man looks from afar.
26 “Behold, God is exalted, and we do not know Him;
The number of His years is unsearchable.
27 “For He draws up the drops of water,
They distill rain for His ^{▼▼Or mist}stream,
28 Which the clouds pour down,
They drip upon man abundantly.
29 “Can anyone discern the spreading of the clouds,
The thundering of His ^{▼▼Lit booth}pavilion?
30 “Behold, He spreads His ^{▼▼Lit light}lightning about Him,
And He covers the depths of the sea.
31 “For by these He judges peoples;
He gives food in abundance.
32 “He covers His hands with the ^{▼▼Lit light}lightning,
And commands it to strike the mark.
33 “Its thundering declares about Him;
The cattle also, concerning what is coming up.