Job 36-37
Holman Christian Standard Bible
36 Then Elihu continued, saying:
2 Be patient with me a little longer, and I will inform you,
for there is still more to be said on God’s behalf.
3 I will get my knowledge from a distant place
and ascribe justice to my Maker.
4 For my arguments are without flaw;[a]
one who has perfect knowledge is with you.
5 Yes, God is mighty, but He despises no one;
He understands all things.[b](A)
6 He does not keep the wicked alive,(B)
but He gives justice to the afflicted.
7 He does not remove His gaze from the righteous,
but He seats them forever with enthroned kings,
and they are exalted.
8 If people are bound with chains
and trapped by the cords of affliction,
9 God tells them what they have done
and how arrogantly they have transgressed.
10 He opens their ears(C) to correction
and insists they repent from iniquity.
11 If they serve Him obediently,
they will end their days in prosperity
and their years in happiness.(D)
12 But if they do not obey,
they will cross the river of death[c]
and die without knowledge.(E)
13 Those who have a godless heart harbor anger;
even when God binds them, they do not cry for help.
14 They die in their youth;
their life ends among male cult prostitutes.(F)
15 God rescues the afflicted by their affliction;
He instructs them by their torment.
16 Indeed, He lured you from the jaws[d] of distress
to a spacious and unconfined place.
Your table was spread with choice food.
17 Yet now you are obsessed with the judgment due the wicked;
judgment and justice have seized you.
18 Be careful that no one lures you with riches;[e]
do not let a large ransom[f] lead you astray.(G)
19 Can your wealth[g] or all your physical exertion
keep you from distress?(H)
20 Do not long for the night
when nations will disappear from their places.
21 Be careful that you do not turn to iniquity,
for that is why you have been tested by[h] affliction.
22 Look, God shows Himself exalted by His power.
Who is a teacher like Him?
23 Who has appointed His way for Him,
and who has declared, “You have done wrong”?(I)
24 Remember that you should praise His work,
which people have sung about.(J)
25 All mankind has seen it;
people have looked at it from a distance.(K)
26 Yes, God is exalted beyond our knowledge;(L)
the number of His years cannot be counted.(M)
27 For He makes waterdrops evaporate;[i]
they distill the rain into its[j] mist,(N)
28 which the clouds pour out
and shower abundantly on mankind.
29 Can anyone understand how the clouds spread out
or how the thunder roars from God’s pavilion?(O)
30 See how He spreads His lightning(P) around Him
and covers the depths of the sea.
31 For He judges the nations with these;
He gives food in abundance.(Q)
32 He covers His hands with lightning
and commands it to hit its mark.
33 The[k] thunder declares His presence;[l]
the cattle also, the approaching storm.
37 My heart(R) pounds at this
and leaps from my chest.[m]
2 Just listen to His thunderous voice
and the rumbling that comes from His mouth.
3 He lets it loose beneath the entire sky;
His lightning to the ends(S) of the earth.
4 Then there comes a roaring sound;
God thunders(T) with His majestic voice.
He does not restrain the lightning
when His rumbling voice is heard.
5 God thunders marvelously with His voice;
He does great things that we cannot comprehend.
6 For He says to the snow,(U) “Fall to the earth,”
and the torrential rains, His mighty torrential rains,
7 serve as His sign to all mankind,
so that all men may know His work.
8 The wild animals enter their lairs
and stay in their dens.(V)
9 The windstorm comes from its chamber,
and the cold from the driving north winds.
10 Ice is formed by the breath of God,(W)
and watery expanses are frozen.
11 He saturates clouds with moisture;(X)
He scatters His lightning through them.
12 They swirl about,
turning round and round at His direction,
accomplishing everything He commands them
over the surface of the inhabited world.
13 He causes this to happen for punishment,
for His land, or for His faithful love.
14 Listen to this, Job.
Stop and consider God’s wonders.
15 Do you know how God directs His clouds
or makes their lightning flash?
16 Do you understand how the clouds float,
those wonderful works of Him who has perfect knowledge?
17 You whose clothes get hot
when the south wind brings calm to the land,
18 can you help God spread out the skies
as hard as a cast metal mirror?
19 Teach us what we should say to Him;(Y)
we cannot prepare our case because of our darkness.
20 Should He be told that I want to speak?
Can a man speak when he is confused?
21 Now men cannot even look at the sun
when it is in the skies,
after a wind has swept through and cleared them away.
22 Yet out of the north He comes, shrouded in a golden glow;
awesome(Z) majesty surrounds Him.
23 The Almighty—we cannot reach Him—
He is exalted in power!
He will not oppress justice and abundant righteousness,
24 Therefore, men fear Him.
He does not look favorably on any who are wise(AA) in heart.
Footnotes
- Job 36:4 Lit my words are not false
- Job 36:5 Lit He is mighty in strength of heart
- Job 36:12 Or will perish by the sword
- Job 36:16 Lit from a mouth of narrowness
- Job 36:18 Or you into mockery
- Job 36:18 Or bribe
- Job 36:19 Or cry for help
- Job 36:21 Or for you have preferred this to
- Job 36:27 Lit He draws in waterdrops
- Job 36:27 Or His
- Job 36:33 Lit His, or Its
- Job 36:33 Lit thunder announces concerning Him or it
- Job 37:1 Lit from its place
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