Job 36 — Legacy Standard Bible

Elihu Says God Gives the Afflicted Justice

36Then Elihu continued and said,

²“Wait for me a little, and I will show youThat there ¹is yet more to be said in God’s behalf.³“I will take up my knowledge from afar,And I will ascribe ^arighteousness to my Maker.⁴“For truly ^amy words are not a lie;One who is ¹^,^bperfect in knowledge is with you.⁵“Behold, God is mighty but does not ^areject;He is ^bmighty in the power of His heart.⁶“He does not ^akeep the wicked alive,But gives justice to ^bthe afflicted.⁷“He does not ^awithdraw His eyes from the righteous;But ^bwith kings on the throneHe has seated them forever, and they are exalted.⁸“And if they are bound in fetters,And are caught in the cords of ^aaffliction,⁹Then He declares to them their workAnd their transgressions, that they have ^amagnified themselves.¹⁰“^aHe opens their ear to discipline,And ^bsays that they return from wickedness.¹¹“If they hear and serve Him,They will ^aend their days in prosperityAnd their years in ^bpleasures.¹²“But if they do not hear, they shall pass away ^aby a weaponAnd they will ^bbreathe their last without knowledge.¹³“But the godless in heart lay up anger;They do not cry for help when He binds them.¹⁴“¹They die in youth,And their life perishes among the ^acult prostitutes.¹⁵“He delivers the afflicted in ¹their ^aaffliction,And ^bopens their ear in ²time of oppression.¹⁶“Then indeed, He ^aenticed you from the mouth of distress,Instead of it, a broad place with no constraint;And the comfort of your table full of ¹fatness.¹⁷“But you were full of ^ajudgment on the wicked;Judgment and justice take hold of you.¹⁸“Beware lest ^awrath entice you to scoffing;And do not let the greatness of the ^batonement turn you aside.¹⁹“Will your ¹cries keep you from distress,Or all the forces of your power?²⁰“Do not long for ^athe night,When people ¹vanish in their place.²¹“Be careful, do ^anot turn to wickedness,For you have chosen this to ^baffliction.²²“Behold, God is exalted in His power;Who is a ^ateacher like Him?²³“Who has appointed Him His way,And who has said, ‘^aYou have worked out ¹unrighteousness’?²⁴“Remember that you should ^aexalt His work,Of which men have ^bsung.²⁵“All men have beheld it;Man looks from afar.²⁶“Behold, God is ^aexalted, and ^bwe do not know Him;The ^cnumber of His years is unsearchable.²⁷“For ^aHe draws up the drops of water,They distill rain for His ¹stream,²⁸Which the clouds pour down,They drip upon man abundantly.²⁹“Can anyone discern the ^aspreading of the clouds,The ^bthundering of His ¹pavilion?³⁰“Behold, He spreads His ¹lightning about Him,And He covers the depths of the sea.³¹“For by these He ^ajudges peoples;He ^bgives food in abundance.³²“He covers His hands with the ¹lightning,And ^acommands it to strike the mark.³³“Its ^athundering declares about Him;The cattle also, concerning what is coming up.