1And Elihu continued, and said:2“Bear with me a little, and I will show you, for I have yet something to say on God’s behalf.3I will get my knowledge from afar and ascribe righteousness to my Maker. (Job 35:10; Ps 78:2; Re 15:3; Re 16:5; Re 16:7; Re 19:1)4For truly my words are not false; one who is perfect in knowledge is with you. (Job 37:16)5“Behold, God is mighty, and does not despise any; he is mighty in strength of understanding. (Job 8:20; Job 9:4; Job 12:13; Job 12:16; Ps 138:6)6He does not keep the wicked alive, but gives the afflicted their right. (Job 34:28; Job 36:15)7He does not withdraw his eyes from the righteous, but with kings on the throne he sets them forever, and they are exalted. (Ps 33:18; Ps 34:15; Ps 75:10; Ps 113:8; Ps 132:12)8And if they are bound in chains and caught in the cords of affliction, (Job 36:13; Ps 107:10)9then he declares to them their work and their transgressions, that they are behaving arrogantly. (Job 15:25)10He opens their ears to instruction and commands that they return from iniquity. (Job 33:16; Jer 18:11)11If they listen and serve him, they complete their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasantness. (Job 21:13; Isa 1:19)12But if they do not listen, they perish by the sword and die without knowledge. (Job 4:21; Job 33:18; Job 35:16)13“The godless in heart cherish anger; they do not cry for help when he binds them. (Job 15:34; Job 36:8)14They die in youth, and their life ends among the cult prostitutes. (Job 15:32; Job 22:16; Ps 55:23)15He delivers the afflicted by their affliction and opens their ear by adversity. (Job 33:15; Job 36:6; Job 36:10; Ps 119:67; Ps 119:71)16He also allured you out of distress into a broad place where there was no cramping, and what was set on your table was full of fatness. (Job 37:10; Ps 4:1; Ps 18:19; Ps 23:5; Ps 31:8; Ps 36:8; Ps 118:5)17“But you are full of the judgment on the wicked; judgment and justice seize you.18Beware lest wrath entice you into scoffing, and let not the greatness of the ransom turn you aside. (Job 33:24)19Will your cry for help avail to keep you from distress, or all the force of your strength? (Pr 11:4)20Do not long for the night, when peoples vanish in their place. (Job 27:20; Job 34:20; Job 34:25; Job 40:12)21Take care; do not turn to iniquity, for this you have chosen rather than affliction. (Ps 66:18)22Behold, God is exalted in his power; who is a teacher like him? (Job 34:32; Job 35:11)23Who has prescribed for him his way, or who can say, ‘You have done wrong’? (Job 34:10; Job 34:13; Isa 40:13; Ro 11:34; 1Co 2:16)24“Remember to extol his work, of which men have sung. (Job 33:27; Ps 92:5; Ps 104:33; Lu 1:46; Re 15:3)25All mankind has looked on it; man beholds it from afar.26Behold, God is great, and we know him not; the number of his years is unsearchable. (Job 37:5; Ps 90:2; Ps 102:27; 1Co 13:12)27For he draws up the drops of water; they distill his mist in rain, (Ge 2:6; Ps 147:8)28which the skies pour down and drop on mankind abundantly. (De 33:28; Pr 3:20)29Can anyone understand the spreading of the clouds, the thunderings of his pavilion? (Job 26:9; Ps 18:11; Ps 105:39)30Behold, he scatters his lightning about him and covers the roots of the sea.31For by these he judges peoples; he gives food in abundance. (Job 37:13; Ps 104:27; Ps 136:25; Ps 145:15; Ps 147:9; Ac 14:17)32He covers his hands with the lightning and commands it to strike the mark. (Hab 3:4)33Its crashing declares his presence;[1] the cattle also declare that he rises.