36
1 Elihu
also continued,
and said,
2 “Bear with
me a little,
and I will
show you;
for I still
have something to
say on God’s behalf.
3 I
will get my
knowledge from
afar,
and will 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 doesn’t despise
anyone.
He is mighty
in strength of
understanding.
6 He doesn’t
preserve the life
of the wicked,
but gives justice
to the afflicted.
7 He doesn’t
withdraw his eyes
from the righteous,
but with kings
on the throne,
he sets them
forever, and they
are exalted.
8 If they
are bound in
fetters,
and are taken
in the cords
of afflictions,
9 then
he shows them
their work,
and their
transgressions, that
they have behaved
themselves proudly.
10 He
also opens
their ears to
instruction,
and commands that
they return
from iniquity.
11 If they
listen and serve
him,
they will spend
their days in
prosperity,
and their years
in pleasures.
12 But if
they don’t listen,
they will perish
by the sword;
they will die
without knowledge.
13 “But
those who are
godless in heart
lay up anger.
They don’t cry
for help when
he binds them.
14 They
die in youth.
Their life perishes among
the unclean.
15 He delivers
the afflicted by
their affliction,
and opens
their ear in
oppression.
16 Yes, he
would have allured
you out of
distress,
into a wide place,
where there is
no restriction.
That which is
set on your
table would be
full of fatness.
17 “But you
are full of
the judgment of
the wicked.
Judgment and
justice take hold
of you.
18 Don’t
let riches entice
you to wrath,
neither let the
great size of a
bribe turn you
aside.
19 Would
your wealth
sustain you
in distress,
or all the
might of your
strength?
20 Don’t
desire the night,
when people
are cut off in
their place.
21 Take
heed, don’t regard iniquity;
for you
have chosen this
rather than
affliction.
22 Behold,
God is exalted
in his power.
Who is a
teacher like him?
23 Who
has prescribed his
way for him?
Or who can say,
‘You have
committed unrighteousness’?
24 “Remember
that you magnify
his work,
about which men
have sung.
25 All
men have looked
on it.
Man sees it
afar off.
26 Behold,
God is great,
and we don’t know
him.
The number of
his years is
unsearchable.
27 For
he draws up the
drops of water,
which distill in
rain from
his vapor,
28 which
the skies pour
down
and which drop
on man abundantly.
29 Indeed, can anyone understand
the spreading of the
clouds
and the thunderings of
his pavilion?
30 Behold,
he spreads
his light around
him.
He covers the
bottom of the
sea.
31 For
by these he
judges the people.
He gives food in
abundance.
32 He
covers his hands
with the lightning,
and commands it
to strike the
mark.
33 Its
noise tells about
him,
and the
livestock also, concerning
the storm that
comes up.