Job 36

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¹Elihu continued speaking.

²“Be patient with me just a little while longer and let me explain. I still have something to say on God's behalf.

³I will share my extensive knowledge, and I will prove my Creator is in the right.

⁴I assure you that what I'm saying are not lies, for I am a man whose knowledge is of the highest order.

⁵God is mighty, but doesn't despise anyone; he is powerful in strength and understanding.

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

⁷He always pays attention those who do right, and places them on thrones with kings, honoring them eternally.

⁸If they are bound in chains, tied down by ropes of suffering,

⁹then he explains to them what they've done—their arrogant sins.

¹⁰He makes them pay attention and orders them to stop sinning.

¹¹If they listen and do what God says they will live out their lives in happiness.

¹²But if they do not listen they will die a violent death, ignorant of God.

¹³Those who reject God hold on to their bitterness. Even when he disciplines them they do not cry out to him for help.

¹⁴They die in their youth; their lives end among the male temple prostitutes.

¹⁵Through suffering God saves those who suffer; he gets their attention through their troubles.

¹⁶God is trying to rescue you from the jaws of trouble to a place of freedom and safety, filling your table full of the very best food.

¹⁷But you are preoccupied with the fate of the wicked; judgment and justice fill your mind.

¹⁸But be careful that your anger doesn't seduce you into mockery; and don't let the size of the ‘bribe’ lead you into sin.

¹⁹Will your cry for help sustain you when troubles come?

²⁰Do not long for the night when people are suddenly taken away.

²¹Watch out that you don't turn to evil! For it's because of this that you are being tested through suffering.

²²Look how much power God has! What teacher is like him?

²³Who has instructed him what to do? Who can say to him ‘You have done wrong’?

²⁴Instead you should praise him for what he has done, as people have done in song.

²⁵Everyone has seen God's creation, though only from a distance.

²⁶See how great God is—more than we can understand! No one can count his years.

²⁷He draws up the water and distils it into the dew and the rain.

²⁸The clouds pour down rain, falling plentifully on humankind.

²⁹Can anyone understand how the clouds spread out, or how thunder roars from where he lives?

³⁰See how he scatters lightning around him, and covers the depths of the sea in darkness.

³¹By these actions he rules the people, he provides abundant food.

³²He holds lightning in his hands and commands where it should strike.

³³Thunder declares his presence—even cattle know when a storm is coming.