Job 36

1And Elihu continued and said:

2Bear with me a little, and I will show you, for I still have words on God's behalf.

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

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

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

6He does not keep the wicked alive, but gives justice to the afflicted.

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

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

9then he declares to them their deeds and their transgressions, that they have acted arrogantly.

10He opens their ear to discipline, and says that they should turn back from wickedness.

11If they listen and serve, they will spend their days in prosperity and their years in pleasantness.

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

13But the godless at heart harbor anger; they do not cry for help when he binds them.

14They die in youth, and their life ends among the consecrated ones.

15He rescues the afflicted through their affliction and opens their ears through distress.

16Indeed, he drew you away from the mouth of distress into a broad place with no constraint beneath it, and what is set on your table is full of rich food.

17But you are full of the judgment of the wicked; judgment and justice take hold.

18Beware lest wrath entice you with a blow, and do not let a great ransom turn you aside.

19Will your cry for help keep you out of distress, or all your strongest efforts?

20Do not long for the night, when peoples go up from their place.

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

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

23Who has prescribed his way for him? Or who has said, “You have done wrong”?

24Remember to magnify his work, of which people have sung.

25Everyone has seen it; a mortal gazes from afar.

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

27For he draws off drops of water; they distill rain from his mist.

28which the clouds pour down; they shower abundantly on humanity.

29Can anyone understand the spreading of the cloud, the rumblings of his shelter?

30Behold, he spreads his light over it, and covers the roots of the sea.

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

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

33His thunder declares his coming; the cattle also announce what is rising.