Job 36–38

1Elihu 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.

3I will get my knowledge from afar, and will ascribe righteousness to my Maker.

4For 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.

6He doesn’t preserve the life of the wicked, but gives justice to the afflicted.

7He doesn’t withdraw his eyes from the righteous, but with kings on the throne, he sets them forever, and they are exalted.

8If they are bound in fetters, and are taken in the cords of afflictions,

9then he shows them their work, and their transgressions, that they have behaved themselves proudly.

10He also opens their ears to instruction, and commands that they return from iniquity.

11If they listen and serve him, they will spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures.

12But 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.

14They die in youth. Their life perishes among the unclean.

15He delivers the afflicted by their affliction, and opens their ear in oppression.

16Yes, 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.

18Don’t let riches entice you to wrath, neither let the great size of a bribe turn you aside.

19Would your wealth sustain you in distress, or all the might of your strength?

20Don’t desire the night, when people are cut off in their place.

21Take heed, don’t regard iniquity; for you have chosen this rather than affliction.

22Behold, God is exalted in his power. Who is a teacher like him?

23Who 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.

25All men have looked on it. Man sees it afar off.

26Behold, God is great, and we don’t know him. The number of his years is unsearchable.

27For he draws up the drops of water, which distill in rain from his vapor,

28which the skies pour down and which drop on man abundantly.

29Indeed, can anyone understand the spreading of the clouds and the thunderings of his pavilion?

30Behold, he spreads his light around him. He covers the bottom of the sea.

31For by these he judges the people. He gives food in abundance.

32He covers his hands with the lightning, and commands it to strike the mark.

33Its noise tells about him, and the livestock also, concerning the storm that comes up.

1“Yes, at this my heart trembles, and is moved out of its place.

2Hear, oh, hear the noise of his voice, the sound that goes out of his mouth.

3He sends it out under the whole sky, and his lightning to the ends of the earth.

4After it a voice roars. He thunders with the voice of his majesty. He doesn’t hold back anything when his voice is heard.

5God thunders marvelously with his voice. He does great things, which we can’t comprehend.

6For he says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth,’ likewise to the shower of rain, and to the showers of his mighty rain.

7He seals up the hand of every man, that all men whom he has made may know it.

8Then the animals take cover, and remain in their dens.

9Out of its room comes the storm, and cold out of the north.

10By the breath of God, ice is given, and the width of the waters is frozen.

11Yes, he loads the thick cloud with moisture. He spreads abroad the cloud of his lightning.

12It is turned around by his guidance, that they may do whatever he commands them on the surface of the habitable world,

13whether it is for correction, or for his land, or for loving kindness, that he causes it to come.

14“Listen to this, Job. Stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God.

15Do you know how God controls them, and causes the lightning of his cloud to shine?

16Do you know the workings of the clouds, the wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge?

17You whose clothing is warm when the earth is still by reason of the south wind?

18Can you, with him, spread out the sky, which is strong as a cast metal mirror?

19Teach us what we will tell him, for we can’t make our case by reason of darkness.

20Will it be told him that I would speak? Or should a man wish that he were swallowed up?

21Now men don’t see the light which is bright in the skies, but the wind passes, and clears them.

22Out of the north comes golden splendor. With God is awesome majesty.

23We can’t reach the Almighty. He is exalted in power. In justice and great righteousness, he will not oppress.

24Therefore men revere him. He doesn’t regard any who are wise of heart.”

1Then Yahweh answered Job out of the whirlwind,

2“Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?

3Brace yourself like a man, for I will question you, then you answer me!

4“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if you have understanding.

5Who determined its measures, if you know? Or who stretched the line on it?

6What were its foundations fastened on? Or who laid its cornerstone,

7when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

8“Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke out of the womb,

9when I made clouds its garment, and wrapped it in thick darkness,

10marked out for it my bound, set bars and doors,

11and said, ‘You may come here, but no further. Your proud waves shall be stopped here’?

12“Have you commanded the morning in your days, and caused the dawn to know its place,

13that it might take hold of the ends of the earth, and shake the wicked out of it?

14It is changed as clay under the seal, and presented as a garment.

15From the wicked, their light is withheld. The high arm is broken.

16“Have you entered into the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in the recesses of the deep?

17Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?

18Have you comprehended the earth in its width? Declare, if you know it all.

19“What is the way to the dwelling of light? As for darkness, where is its place,

20that you should take it to its bound, that you should discern the paths to its house?

21Surely you know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great!

22Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,

23which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?

24By what way is the lightning distributed, or the east wind scattered on the earth?

25Who has cut a channel for the flood water, or the path for the thunderstorm,

26to cause it to rain on a land where there is no man, on the wilderness, in which there is no man,

27to satisfy the waste and desolate ground, to cause the tender grass to grow?

28Does the rain have a father? Or who fathers the drops of dew?

29Whose womb did the ice come out of? Who has given birth to the gray frost of the sky?

30The waters become hard like stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen.

31“Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades, or loosen the cords of Orion?

32Can you lead the constellations out in their season? Or can you guide the Bear with her cubs?

33Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you establish its dominion over the earth?

34“Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover you?

35Can you send out lightnings, that they may go? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?

36Who has put wisdom in the inward parts? Or who has given understanding to the mind?

37Who can count the clouds by wisdom? Or who can pour out the containers of the sky,

38when the dust runs into a mass, and the clods of earth stick together?

39“Can you hunt the prey for the lioness, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,

40when they crouch in their dens, and lie in wait in the thicket?

41Who provides for the raven his prey, when his young ones cry to God, and wander for lack of food?