Job - Chapter 36

¹ Elihu went on speaking. He said:

² Be patient a little longer while I explain, for I have more to say on God's behalf.

³ I shall range far afield for my arguments to prove my Maker just.

⁴ I guarantee, nothing I shall say will be untrue: you have a man of sound learning here.

⁵ God does not reject anyone whose heart is pure

⁶ or let the sinner live on in all his power. He does accord fair judgement to the afflicted;

⁷ he does uphold what the upright deserve. When he raises kings to thrones, if they grow proud of their unending rule,

⁸ then he fetters them with chains, they are caught in the bonds of affliction.

⁹ He shows them the import of their deeds, of the sins of pride they have committed.

¹⁰ In their ears he sounds a warning, ordering them to turn back from doing wrong.

¹¹ If they take notice and obey him, the rest of their days are prosperous and the years pass pleasantly.

¹² If not, they go down the Canal and perish in their stupidity.

¹³ The stubborn, who cherish their anger and do not cry for help when he chains them,

¹⁴ die in the bloom of youth or live among the male prostitutes of the temple.

¹⁵ But God saves the afflicted by his affliction, warning him in his misery.

¹⁶ You, too, he would like to snatch from torment. While you were enjoying boundless abundance, with rich food piled high on your table,

¹⁷ you did not bring the wicked to trial and did not give fair judgement to the orphan.

¹⁸ Beware of being led astray by abundance, of being corrupted by expensive presents.

¹⁹ Take the powerful to law, not merely the penniless, those whose arm is strong, not merely the weak.

²⁰ Do not crush people you do not know to install your relations in their place.

²¹ Avoid any tendency to wrong-doing, for this is why affliction is testing you now.

²² See, God is sublime in his strength and who can teach lessons as he does?

²³ Who has even told him which course to take, or dared to say to him, 'You have done wrong'?

²⁴ Consider, rather, how you may praise his work, a theme that many have sung.

²⁵ This is something that everyone can see, gazing, as we do, from afar.

²⁶ Yes, the greatness of God exceeds our knowledge, the number of his years is past counting.

²⁷ It is he who makes the raindrops small and pulverises the rain into mist.

²⁸ And the clouds then pour this out, sending it streaming down on the human race.

²⁹ And who can fathom how he spreads the clouds, or why such crashes thunder from his tent?

³⁰ He spreads a mist before him and covers the tops of the mountains.

³¹ By these means, he sustains the peoples, giving them plenty to eat.

³² He gathers up the lightning in his hands, assigning it the mark where to strike.

³³ His crashing gives warning of its coming, anger flashes out against iniquity.

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