Hiob 36 | New International Reader’s Version

1 Elihu continued, 2 ‘Put up with me a little longer. I’ll show you I can speak up for God even more. 3 I get my knowledge from far away. I’ll announce that the God who made me is fair. 4 You can be sure that my words are true. One who has perfect knowledge is talking to you. 5 ‘God is mighty, but he doesn’t hate people. He’s mighty, and he knows exactly what he’s going to do. 6 He doesn’t keep alive those who are evil. Instead, he gives suffering people their rights. 7 He watches over those who do what is right. He puts them on thrones as if they were kings. He honours them for ever. 8 But some people are held by chains. Their pain ties them up like ropes. 9 God tells them what they’ve done. He tells them they’ve become proud and sinned against him. 10 He makes them listen when he corrects them. He commands them to turn away from the evil things they’ve done. 11 If they obey him and serve him, they’ll enjoy a long and happy life. Things will go well with them. 12 But if they don’t listen to him, they’ll be killed by swords. They’ll die because they didn’t want to know anything about him. 13 ‘Those whose hearts are ungodly are always angry. Even when God puts them in chains, they don’t cry out for help. 14 They die while they are still young. They die among the male prostitutes at the temples. 15 But God saves suffering people while they suffer. He speaks to them while they are hurting. 16 ‘Job, he wants to take you out of the jaws of trouble. He wants to bring you to a wide and safe place. He’d like to seat you at a table that is loaded with the best food. 17 But now you are loaded down with the punishment sinners will receive. You have been judged fairly. 18 Be careful that no one tempts you with riches. Don’t take money from people who want special favours, no matter how much it is. 19 Can your wealth keep you out of trouble? Can all your mighty efforts keep you going? 20 Don’t wish for the night to come so you can drag people away from their homes. 21 Be careful not to do what is evil. You seem to like evil better than suffering! 22 ‘God is honoured because he is so powerful. There is no teacher equal to him. 23 Who has told him what he can do? Who has said to him, “You have done what is wrong”? 24 Remember to thank him for what he’s done. People have praised him with their songs. 25 Every human being has seen his work. People can see it from far away. 26 How great God is! We’ll never completely understand him. We’ll never find out how long he has lived. 27 ‘He makes mist rise from the water. Then it falls as rain into the streams. 28 The clouds pour down their moisture. Rain showers fall on people everywhere. 29 Who can understand how God spreads out the clouds? Who can explain how he thunders from his home in heaven? 30 See how he scatters his lightning around him! He lights up the deepest parts of the ocean. 31 The rain he sends makes things grow for the nations. He provides them with plenty of food. 32 He holds lightning bolts in his hands. He commands them to strike their marks. 33 His thunder announces that a storm is coming. Even the cattle let us know it’s approaching.

English Standard Version

Elihu Extols God’s Greatness

1 And 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. 3 I will get my knowledge from afar and 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 does not despise any; he is mighty in strength of understanding. 6 He does not keep the wicked alive, but gives the afflicted their right. 7 He does not withdraw his eyes from the righteous, but with kings on the throne he sets them forever, and they are exalted. 8 And if they are bound in chains and caught in the cords of affliction, 9 then he declares to them their work and their transgressions, that they are behaving arrogantly. 10 He opens their ears to instruction and commands that they return from iniquity. 11 If they listen and serve him, they complete their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasantness. 12 But if they do not listen, they perish by the sword and die without knowledge. 13 “The godless in heart cherish anger; they do not cry for help when he binds them. 14 They die in youth, and their life ends among the cult prostitutes. 15 He delivers the afflicted by their affliction and opens their ear by adversity. 16 He 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. 17 “But you are full of the judgment on the wicked; judgment and justice seize you. 18 Beware lest wrath entice you into scoffing, and let not the greatness of the ransom turn you aside. 19 Will your cry for help avail to keep you from distress, or all the force of your strength? 20 Do not long for the night, when peoples vanish in their place. 21 Take care; do not turn to iniquity, for this you have chosen rather than affliction. 22 Behold, God is exalted in his power; who is a teacher like him? 23 Who has prescribed for him his way, or who can say, ‘You have done wrong’? 24 “Remember to extol his work, of which men have sung. 25 All mankind has looked on it; man beholds it from afar. 26 Behold, God is great, and we know him not; the number of his years is unsearchable. 27 For he draws up the drops of water; they distill his mist in rain, 28 which the skies pour down and drop on mankind abundantly. 29 Can anyone understand the spreading of the clouds, the thunderings of his pavilion? 30 Behold, he scatters his lightning about him and covers the roots of the sea. 31 For by these he judges peoples; he gives food in abundance. 32 He covers his hands with the lightning and commands it to strike the mark. 33 Its crashing declares his presence;* the cattle also declare that he rises.

Hiob 36 | New International Reader’s Version English Standard Version

Elihu Extols God’s Greatness