Job 36
Elihu Extols God’s Greatness
[1] 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. (ESV)
