Job 35-37
New Century Version
35 Then Elihu said:
2 “Do you think this is fair?
You say, ‘God will show that I am right,’
3 but you also ask, ‘What’s the use?
I don’t gain anything by not sinning.’
4 “I will answer you
and your friends who are with you.
5 Look up at the sky
and see the clouds so high above you.
6 If you sin, it does nothing to God;
even if your sins are many, they do nothing to him.
7 If you are good, you give nothing to God;
he receives nothing from your hand.
8 Your evil ways only hurt others like yourself,
and the good you do only helps other human beings.
9 “People cry out when they are in trouble;
they beg for relief from powerful people.
10 But no one asks, ‘Where is God, my Maker,
who gives us songs in the night,
11 who makes us smarter than the animals of the earth
and wiser than the birds of the air?’
12 God does not answer evil people when they cry out,
because the wicked are proud.
13 God does not listen to their useless begging;
the Almighty pays no attention to them.
14 He will listen to you even less
when you say that you do not see him,
that your case is before him,
that you must wait for him,
15 that his anger never punishes,
and that he doesn’t notice evil.
16 So Job is only speaking nonsense,
saying many words without knowing what is true.”
Elihu’s Speech Continues
36 Elihu continued:
2 “Listen to me a little longer, and I will show you
that there is more to be said for God.
3 What I know comes from far away.
I will show that my Maker is right.
4 You can be sure that my words are not false;
one who really knows is with you.
5 “God is powerful, but he does not hate people;
he is powerful and sure of what he wants to do.
6 He will not keep evil people alive,
but he gives the poor their rights.
7 He always watches over those who do right;
he sets them on thrones with kings
and they are honored forever.
8 If people are bound in chains,
or if trouble, like ropes, ties them up,
9 God tells them what they have done,
that they have sinned in their pride.
10 God makes them listen to his warning
and commands them to change from doing evil.
11 If they obey and serve him,
the rest of their lives will be successful,
and the rest of their years will be happy.
12 But if they do not listen,
they will die by the sword,
and they will die without knowing why.
13 “Those who have wicked hearts hold on to anger.
Even when God punishes them, they do not cry for help.
14 They die while they are still young,
and their lives end in disgrace.
15 But God saves those who suffer through their suffering;
he gets them to listen through their pain.
16 “God is gently calling you from the jaws of trouble
to an open place of freedom
where he has set your table full of the best food.
17 But now you are being punished like the wicked;
you are getting justice.
18 Be careful! Don’t be led away from God by riches;
don’t let much money turn you away.
19 Neither your wealth nor all your great strength
will keep you out of trouble.
20 Don’t wish for the night
when people are taken from their homes.
21 Be careful not to turn to evil,
which you seem to want more than suffering.
22 “God is great and powerful;
no other teacher is like him.
23 No one has planned his ways for him;
no one can say to God, ‘You have done wrong.’
24 Remember to praise his work,
about which people have sung.
25 Everybody has seen it;
people look at it from far off.
26 God is so great, greater than we can understand!
No one knows how old he is.
27 “He evaporates the drops of water from the earth
and turns them into rain.
28 The rain then pours down from the clouds,
and showers fall on people.
29 No one understands how God spreads out the clouds
or how he sends thunder from where he lives.
30 Watch how God scatters his lightning around him,
lighting up the deepest parts of the sea.
31 This is the way God governs the nations;
this is how he gives us enough food.
32 God fills his hands with lightning
and commands it to strike its target.
33 His thunder announces the coming storm,
and even the cattle know it is near.
37 “At the sound of his thunder, my heart pounds
as if it will jump out of my chest.
2 Listen! Listen to the thunder of God’s voice
and to the rumbling that comes from his mouth.
3 He turns his lightning loose under the whole sky
and sends it to the farthest parts of the earth.
4 After that you can hear the roar
when he thunders with a great sound.
He does not hold back the flashing
when his voice is heard.
5 God’s voice thunders in wonderful ways;
he does great things we cannot understand.
6 He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth,’
and to the shower, ‘Be a heavy rain.’
7 With it, he stops everyone from working
so everyone knows it is the work of God.
8 The animals take cover from the rain
and stay in their dens.
9 The storm comes from where it was stored;
the cold comes with the strong winds.
10 The breath of God makes ice,
and the wide waters become frozen.
11 He fills the clouds with water
and scatters his lightning through them.
12 At his command they swirl around
over the whole earth,
doing whatever he commands.
13 He uses the clouds to punish people
or to water his earth and show his love.
14 “Job, listen to this:
Stop and notice God’s miracles.
15 Do you know how God controls the clouds
and makes his lightning flash?
16 Do you know how the clouds hang in the sky?
Do you know the miracles of God, who knows everything?
17 You suffer in your clothes
when the land is silenced by the hot, south wind.
18 You cannot stretch out the sky like God
and make it look as hard as polished bronze.
19 Tell us what we should say to him;
we cannot get our arguments ready because we do not have enough understanding.
20 Should God be told that I want to speak?
Would a person ask to be swallowed up?
21 No one can look at the sun
when it is bright in the sky
after the wind has blown all the clouds away.
22 God comes out of the north in golden light,
in overwhelming greatness.
23 The Almighty is too high for us to reach.
He has great strength;
he is always right and never punishes unfairly.
24 That is why people honor him;
he does not respect those who say they are wise.”
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
