Job 36

HCSB

Job 36

^{Tools
1} Then Elihu continued, saying:

^{Tools
2}

Be patient with me a little longer, and I will inform you,
for there is still more to be said on God’s behalf.

^{Tools
3}

I will get my knowledge from a distant place
and ascribe justice to my Maker.

^{Tools
4}

For my arguments are without flaw;^(a)
one who has perfect knowledge is with you.

^{Tools
5}

Yes, God is mighty, but He despises no one;
He understands all things.^(b)^(A)

^{Tools
6}

He does not keep the wicked alive,^(B)
but He gives justice to the afflicted.

^{Tools
7}

He does not remove His gaze from the righteous,
but He seats them forever with enthroned kings,
and they are exalted.

^{Tools
8}

If people are bound with chains
and trapped by the cords of affliction,

^{Tools
9}

God tells them what they have done
and how arrogantly they have transgressed.

^{Tools
10}

He opens their ears^(C) to correction
and insists they repent from iniquity.

^{Tools
11}

If they serve Him obediently,
they will end their days in prosperity
and their years in happiness.^(D)

^{Tools
12}

But if they do not obey,
they will cross the river of death^(c)
and die without knowledge.^(E)

^{Tools
13}

Those who have a godless heart harbor anger;
even when God binds them, they do not cry for help.

^{Tools
14}

They die in their youth;
their life ends among male cult prostitutes.^(F)

^{Tools
15}

God rescues the afflicted by their affliction;
He instructs them by their torment.

^{Tools
16}

Indeed, He lured you from the jaws^(d) of distress
to a spacious and unconfined place.
Your table was spread with choice food.

^{Tools
17}

Yet now you are obsessed with the judgment due the wicked;
judgment and justice have seized you.

^{Tools
18}

Be careful that no one lures you with riches;^(e)
do not let a large ransom^(f) lead you astray.^(G)

^{Tools
19}

Can your wealth^(g) or all your physical exertion
keep you from distress?^(H)

^{Tools
20}

Do not long for the night
when nations will disappear from their places.

^{Tools
21}

Be careful that you do not turn to iniquity,
for that is why you have been tested by^(h) affliction.

^{Tools
22}

Look, God shows Himself exalted by His power.
Who is a teacher like Him?

^{Tools
23}

Who has appointed His way for Him,
and who has declared, “You have done wrong”?^(I)

^{Tools
24}

Remember that you should praise His work,
which people have sung about.^(J)

^{Tools
25}

All mankind has seen it;
people have looked at it from a distance.^(K)

^{Tools
26}

Yes, God is exalted beyond our knowledge;^(L)
the number of His years cannot be counted.^(M)

^{Tools
27}

For He makes waterdrops evaporate;⁽ⁱ⁾
they distill the rain into its^(j) mist,^(N)

^{Tools
28}

which the clouds pour out
and shower abundantly on mankind.

^{Tools
29}

Can anyone understand how the clouds spread out
or how the thunder roars from God’s pavilion?^(O)

^{Tools
30}

See how He spreads His lightning^(P) around Him
and covers the depths of the sea.

^{Tools
31}

For He judges the nations with these;
He gives food in abundance.^(Q)

^{Tools
32}

He covers His hands with lightning
and commands it to hit its mark.

^{Tools
33}

The^(k) thunder declares His presence;^(l)
the cattle also, the approaching storm.

Footnotes:

a. Job 36:4: Lit my words are not false

b. Job 36:5: Lit He is mighty in strength of heart

c. Job 36:12: Or will perish by the sword

d. Job 36:16: Lit from a mouth of narrowness

e. Job 36:18: Or you into mockery

f. Job 36:18: Or bribe

g. Job 36:19: Or cry for help

h. Job 36:21: Or for you have preferred this to

i. Job 36:27: Lit He draws in waterdrops

j. Job 36:27: Or His

k. Job 36:33: Lit His, or Its

l. Job 36:33: Lit thunder announces concerning Him or it

Cross references:

A. Job 36:5: Job 9:4; Job 12:13; Job 38:36

B. Job 36:6: Genesis 18:25; Job 8:20; 2 Peter 2:9

C. Job 36:10: Job 4:12; Job 13:1; Job 33:16

D. Job 36:11: Job 21:13; Job 22:2; Isaiah 1:19

E. Job 36:12: Job 4:21; Job 33:18

F. Job 36:14: Deuteronomy 23:17

G. Job 36:18: Psalm 26:10; Amos 5:12

H. Job 36:19: Job 15:24; Psalm 107:6; Psalm 107:13; Psalm 107:19; Psalm 107:28

I. Job 36:23: Job 34:10; Job 34:13; Isaiah 40:13-14; Romans 11:34

J. Job 36:24: Psalm 92:5; Psalm 104:33

K. Job 36:25: Psalm 19:3; Romans 1:19-20; Hebrews 11:13

L. Job 36:26: Job 9:10; Job 37:5; Job 37:23; Ecclesiastes 8:17

M. Job 36:26: Psalm 90:2; Psalm 102:24; Psalm 102:27; Hebrews 1:12

N. Job 36:27: Genesis 2:6; Job 38:28; Psalm 147:8

O. Job 36:29: Job 26:14; Job 37:16; Psalm 105:39

P. Job 36:30: Job 38:28; Psalm 18:14

Q. Job 36:31: Job 37:13; Psalm 136:25; Acts 14:17