Job 35-37 (Holman Christian Standard Bible)

Job 35

 ¹ Then Elihu continued, saying:

    ² Do you think it is just when you say,
    "I am righteous before God"?

    ³ For you ask, "What does it profit You, ^[a]
    and what benefit comes to me, if I do not sin?" ^(A)

    ⁴ I will answer you
    and your friends with you.

    ⁵ Look at the heavens and see;
    gaze at the clouds high above you.

    ⁶ If you sin, how does it affect God?
    If you multiply your transgressions, what does it do to Him?

    ⁷ If you are righteous, what do you give Him,
    or what does He receive from your hand? ^(B)

    ⁸ Your wickedness [affects] a person like yourself,
    and your righteousness [another] human being.

    ⁹ People cry out because of severe oppression;
    they shout for help from the arm of the mighty. ^(C)

    ¹⁰ But no one asks, "Where is God my Maker, ^(D)
    who provides [us] with songs in the night, ^(E)

    ¹¹ who gives us more understanding than the animals of the earth
    and makes us wiser than the birds of the sky?" ^(F)

    ¹² There they cry out, but He does not answer,
    because of the pride of evil men. ^(G)

    ¹³ Indeed, God does not listen to empty [cries],
    and the Almighty does not take note of it—

    ¹⁴ how much less when ^[b] you complain ^[c]
    that you do not see Him,
    [that your] case ^(H) is before Him
    and you are waiting ^(I) for Him.

    ¹⁵ But now, because God's anger does not punish
    and He does not pay attention to transgression, ^[d]

    ¹⁶ Job opens his mouth in vain
    and multiplies words without knowledge. ^(J)

Job 36

 ¹ Then Elihu continued, saying:

    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.

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

    ⁴ For my arguments are without flaw; ^[e]
    one who has perfect knowledge is with you.

    ⁵ Yes, God is mighty, but He despises [no one];
    He understands all things. ^{(K) [f]}

    ⁶ He does not keep the wicked alive, ^(L)
    but He gives justice to the afflicted.

    ⁷ He does not remove His gaze from the righteous,
    but He seats them forever with enthroned kings,
    and they are exalted.

    ⁸ If people are bound with chains
    and trapped by the cords of affliction,

    ⁹ God tells them what they have done
    and how arrogantly they have transgressed.

    ¹⁰ He opens their ears ^(M) to correction
    and insists they repent from iniquity.

    ¹¹ If they serve Him obediently,
    they will end their days in prosperity
    and their years in happiness. ^(N)

    ¹² But if they do not obey,
    they will cross the river [of death] ^[g]
    and die without knowledge. ^(O)

    ¹³ Those who have a godless heart harbor anger;
    even when God binds them, they do not cry for help.

    ¹⁴ They die in their youth;
    their life [ends] among male cult prostitutes. ^(P)

    ¹⁵ God rescues the afflicted by afflicting them;
    He instructs them by means of their torment.

    ¹⁶ Indeed, He lured you from the jaws ^[h] of distress
    to a spacious and unconfined place.
    Your table was spread with choice food.

    ¹⁷ Yet [now] you are obsessed with the judgment due the wicked;
    judgment and justice have seized you.

    ¹⁸ Be careful that no one lures you with riches; ^[i]
    do not let a large ransom ^[j] lead you astray. ^(Q)

    ¹⁹ Can your wealth ^[k] or all [your] physical exertion
    keep [you] from distress? ^(R)

    ²⁰ Do not long for the night
    when nations will disappear from their places.

    ²¹ Be careful that you do not turn to iniquity,
    for that is why you have been tested by ^[l] affliction.

    ²² Look, God shows Himself exalted by His power.
    Who is a teacher like Him?

    ²³ Who has appointed His way for Him,
    and who has declared, "You have done wrong"? ^(S)

    ²⁴ Remember that you should praise His work,
    which people have sung about. ^(T)

    ²⁵ All mankind has seen it;
    people have looked at it from a distance. ^(U)

    ²⁶ Look, God is exalted beyond our knowledge; ^(V)
    the number of His years cannot be counted. ^(W)

    ²⁷ For He makes waterdrops evaporate; ^[m]
    they distill the rain into its ^[n] mist, ^(X)

    ²⁸ which the clouds pour out
    and shower abundantly on mankind.

    ²⁹ Can anyone understand how the clouds spread out
    or how the thunder roars from God's pavilion? ^(Y)

    ³⁰ Look, He spreads His lightning ^(Z) around Him
    and covers the depths of the sea.

    ³¹ For He judges the nations with these;
    He gives food in abundance. ^(AA)

    ³² He covers [His] hands with lightning
    and commands it to hit its mark.

    ³³ The ^[o] thunder declares His presence; ^[p]
    the cattle also, the approaching [storm].

   

Job 37

 ¹ My heart ^(AB) pounds at this
    and leaps from my chest. ^[q]

    ² Just listen to His thunderous voice
    and the rumbling that comes from His mouth.

    ³ He lets it loose beneath the entire sky;
    His lightning to the ends ^(AC) of the earth.

    ⁴ Then there comes a roaring sound;
    God thunders ^(AD) with His majestic voice.
    He does not restrain the lightning
    when His [rumbling] voice is heard.

    ⁵ God thunders marvelously with His voice;
    He does great things that we cannot comprehend.

    ⁶ For He says to the snow, ^(AE) "Fall to the earth,"
    and the torrential rains, His mighty torrential rains,

    ⁷ serve as His signature to all mankind,
    so that all men may know His work.

    ⁸ The wild animals enter [their] lairs
    and stay in their dens. ^(AF)

    ⁹ The windstorm comes from its chamber,
    and the cold from the driving north winds.

    ¹⁰ Ice is formed by the breath of God, ^(AG)
    and watery expanses are frozen.

    ¹¹ He saturates clouds with moisture; ^(AH)
    He scatters His lightning through them.

    ¹² They swirl about,
    turning round and round at His direction,
    accomplishing everything He commands them
    over the surface of the inhabited world.

    ¹³ He causes this to happen for punishment,
    for His land, or for His faithful love.

    ¹⁴ Listen to this, Job.
    Stop and consider God's wonders.

    ¹⁵ Do you know how God directs His clouds
    or makes their lightning flash?

    ¹⁶ Do you understand how the clouds float,
    those wonderful works of Him who has perfect knowledge?

    ¹⁷ You whose clothes get hot
    when the south wind brings calm to the land,

    ¹⁸ can you help God spread out the skies
    as hard as a cast metal mirror?

    ¹⁹ Teach us what we should say to Him; ^(AI)
    we cannot prepare [our case] because of our darkness.

    ²⁰ Should He be told that I want to speak?
    Can a man speak when he is confused?

    ²¹ Now men cannot [even] look at the sun
    when it is in the skies,
    after a wind has swept through and cleared them away.

    ²² Yet out of the north He comes, [shrouded] in a golden [glow];
    awesome ^(AJ) majesty surrounds Him.

    ²³ The Almighty—we cannot reach Him—
    He is exalted in power!
    In His justice and righteousness,
    He will not oppress.

    ²⁴ Therefore, men fear Him.
    He does not look favorably on any who are wise ^(AK) in heart.