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Sin’s impact

35 Elihu continued:

Do you think it right?
    You say, “I’m more just than God.”
Yet you ask, “What does it benefit you?
    What have I gained by avoiding sin?”
I’ll answer you,
    and your friends along with you.
Look at the heavens and see;
    scan the clouds high over you.
If you’ve sinned, how have you affected God?
    Your offenses have multiplied;
    what have you done to him?
If you are righteous,
    what do you give to him?
    Or what does he receive from your hand?
Your evil affects others like you,
    and your righteousness affects fellow human beings.
People cry out because of heavy oppression;
    shout under the power of the mighty.
10 But no one says, “Where is God my maker;
    who gives songs in the night;
11     who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth,
    makes us wiser than the birds in the sky?”
12 Then they cry out; but he doesn’t answer,
    because of the pride of the wicked.
13 God certainly doesn’t respond to a deceitful cry;
    the Almighty doesn’t pay attention to it.
14 Although you say that you don’t see him,
    the case is before him;
    so wait anxiously for him.
15 Even though his anger is now held back,
    a person doesn’t know it’s only delayed.[a]
16 So Job mouths emptiness;
    he piles up ignorant words.

Reason for continuing

36 Continuing, Elihu said,

Wait a little while so I can demonstrate for you
    that there is still something more to say about God.
I will draw from my broad knowledge,
    attribute justice to my maker.
My words are certainly truthful;
    one with total knowledge is present with you.

Divine discipline

Look, God is mighty and doesn’t reject anyone;
    he is mighty in strength and mind.
He doesn’t let the wicked live,
    but grants justice to the poor.
He doesn’t avert his eyes from the righteous;
    he seats kings on thrones forever,
        and they are lifted up.
If they are tied with ropes,
        caught in cords of affliction,
    he informs them about their offenses
        and their grave sins.
10 He opens their ears with discipline
    and commands them to turn from wrong.
11 If they listen and serve,
    they spend their days in plenty,
    their years contentedly.
12 But if they don’t listen,
    they perish by the sword,
    breathe their last without understanding.
13 Those with impious hearts become furious;
    they don’t cry out even though he binds them.
14 They die young;
    they are among the holy ones.
15 He saves the weak in their affliction,
    opens their ears through oppression.
16 Surely he draws you up from the brink of trouble
    to a wide place without distress;
    your table is set with rich food.
17 You are overly concerned about the case of the wicked;
    justice will be upheld in it.
18 Don’t let them lure you with wealth;
    don’t let a huge bribe mislead you.
19 Will he arrange your rescue from distress
    or from all your exertions of strength?
20 Don’t wish for the night
    when people vanish from their place.
21 Take care; don’t turn to evil
    because you’ve chosen it over affliction.
22 Look, God is inaccessible due to his power;
    who is a teacher like him?
23 Who has repaid him for his action,
    and who would ever say, “You’ve done wrong”?
24 Remember to praise his work
    that all of us have seen.
25 Every person has seen him;
    people can observe at great distance.

God’s control of the storm

26 Look, God is exalted and unknowable;
    the number of his years is beyond counting.
27 He draws up drops of water
        that distill rain from his flood;
28     the clouds pour moisture
        and drip continually on humans.
29 Even if one perceives a spreading cloud
        and the thunder of his pavilion,[b]
30     look how he spreads lightning across it
        and covers the seabed;
31     for by water[c] he judges peoples
        and gives food in abundance.
32 He conceals lightning in his palms
    and orders it to its target.
33 His thunder announces it;
    even cattle proclaim its rising.

37 Oh, my mind is disturbed by this
    and is more troubled than usual.
Listen closely to the rumble of his voice,
    the roar issuing from his mouth.
He looses it under the whole sky,
    his lightning on earth’s edges.
After it, a voice roars;
    he thunders with a mighty voice,
    and no one can stop it
    when his voice is heard.
God roars with his wondrous voice;
    he does great things we can’t know.
He says to the snow, “Fall to earth,”
    and to the downpour of rain, “Be a mighty shower.”
He stamps the hand of every person
    so all can know his work.[d]
The wild beast enters its lair,
    lies down in its den.
The storm comes from its chamber,
    the cold from the north wind.
10 By God’s breath ice forms;
    water’s expanse becomes solid.
11 He also fills clouds with moisture;
    his lightning scatters clouds.
12 He overturns the circling clouds;[e]
    by his guidance they do[f] their work,
    doing everything he commands over the entire earth.
13 Whether for punishment, for his world,
        or for kindness,
    God makes it all happen.

14 Hear this, Job;
    stop and ponder God’s mighty deeds.
15 Do you realize that when God commands them,
    his clouds produce lightning?
16 Do you understand the positioning of the clouds,
    the amazing deeds of one with perfect knowledge,
17 you whose clothes are hot
    when earth is calmed by the south wind?
18 Can you form the sky with him,
    hard like a mirror made of metal?
19 Tell us what we should say to him;
    we can’t present our case due to darkness.
20 Should someone inform him that I wish to speak,
    or would anyone say he wants to be devoured?

Divine splendor

21 For now, no one can look at the sun;
    it is bright in the sky;
        the wind has passed and cleared away the clouds.
22 From the north comes golden light,
    the awesome splendor of God.
23 As for the Almighty, we can’t find him—
    he is powerful and just, abundantly righteous—
    he won’t respond.
24 Therefore, people fear him;
    none of the wise[g] can see him.

Footnotes

  1. Job 35:15 Heb uncertain
  2. Job 36:29 Or canopy
  3. Job 36:31 Or them
  4. Job 37:7 Or that everyone he has made can know it
  5. Job 37:12 Heb uncertain
  6. Job 37:12 Heb lacks they do.
  7. Job 37:24 Or wise in heart; cf 9:4

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