35 Elihu spake moreover, and said,

² Thinkest thou this to be right, that thou saidst, My righteousness is more than God's?

³ For thou saidst, What advantage will it be unto thee? and, What profit shall I have, if I be cleansed from my sin?

⁴ I will answer thee, and thy companions with thee.

⁵ Look unto the heavens, and see; and behold the clouds which are higher than thou.

⁶ If thou sinnest, what doest thou against him? or if thy transgressions be multiplied, what doest thou unto him?

⁷ If thou be righteous, what givest thou him? or what receiveth he of thine hand?

⁸ Thy wickedness may hurt a man as thou art; and thy righteousness may profit the son of man.

⁹ By reason of the multitude of oppressions they make the oppressed to cry: they cry out by reason of the arm of the mighty.

¹⁰ But none saith, Where is God my maker, who giveth songs in the night;

¹¹ Who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, and maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven?

¹² There they cry, but none giveth answer, because of the pride of evil men.

¹³ Surely God will not hear vanity, neither will the Almighty regard it.

¹⁴ Although thou sayest thou shalt not see him, yet judgment is before him; therefore trust thou in him.

¹⁵ But now, because it is not so, he hath visited in his anger; yet he knoweth it not in great extremity:

¹⁶ Therefore doth Job open his mouth in vain; he multiplieth words without knowledge.

36 Elihu also proceeded, and said,

² Suffer me a little, and I will shew thee that I have yet to speak on God's behalf.

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

⁴ For truly my words shall not be false: he that is perfect in knowledge is with thee.

⁵ Behold, God is mighty, and despiseth not any: he is mighty in strength and wisdom.

⁶ He preserveth not the life of the wicked: but giveth right to the poor.

⁷ He withdraweth not his eyes from the righteous: but with kings are they on the throne; yea, he doth establish them for ever, and they are exalted.

⁸ And if they be bound in fetters, and be holden in cords of affliction;

⁹ Then he sheweth them their work, and their transgressions that they have exceeded.

¹⁰ He openeth also their ear to discipline, and commandeth that they return from iniquity.

¹¹ If they obey and serve him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures.

¹² But if they obey not, they shall perish by the sword, and they shall die without knowledge.

¹³ But the hypocrites in heart heap up wrath: they cry not when he bindeth them.

¹⁴ They die in youth, and their life is among the unclean.

¹⁵ He delivereth the poor in his affliction, and openeth their ears in oppression.

¹⁶ Even so would he have removed thee out of the strait into a broad place, where there is no straitness; and that which should be set on thy table should be full of fatness.

¹⁷ But thou hast fulfilled the judgment of the wicked: judgment and justice take hold on thee.

¹⁸ Because there is wrath, beware lest he take thee away with his stroke: then a great ransom cannot deliver thee.

¹⁹ Will he esteem thy riches? no, not gold, nor all the forces of strength.

²⁰ Desire not the night, when people are cut off in their place.

²¹ Take heed, regard not iniquity: for this hast thou chosen rather than affliction.

²² Behold, God exalteth by his power: who teacheth like him?

²³ Who hath enjoined him his way? or who can say, Thou hast wrought iniquity?

²⁴ Remember that thou magnify his work, which men behold.

²⁵ Every man may see it; man may behold it afar off.

²⁶ Behold, God is great, and we know him not, neither can the number of his years be searched out.

²⁷ For he maketh small the drops of water: they pour down rain according to the vapour thereof:

²⁸ Which the clouds do drop and distil upon man abundantly.

²⁹ Also can any understand the spreadings of the clouds, or the noise of his tabernacle?

³⁰ Behold, he spreadeth his light upon it, and covereth the bottom of the sea.

³¹ For by them judgeth he the people; he giveth meat in abundance.

³² With clouds he covereth the light; and commandeth it not to shine by the cloud that cometh betwixt.

³³ The noise thereof sheweth concerning it, the cattle also concerning the vapour.

7 Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman.

² Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.

³ Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband.

⁴ The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife.

⁵ Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.

⁶ But I speak this by permission, and not of commandment.

⁷ For I would that all men were even as I myself. But every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that.

⁸ I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, it is good for them if they abide even as I.

⁹ But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.

¹⁰ And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband:

¹¹ But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife.

¹² But to the rest speak I, not the Lord: If any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away.

¹³ And the woman which hath an husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him.

¹⁴ For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy.

¹⁵ But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases: but God hath called us to peace.

¹⁶ For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife?

¹⁷ But as God hath distributed to every man, as the Lord hath called every one, so let him walk. And so ordain I in all churches.

¹⁸ Is any man called being circumcised? let him not become uncircumcised. Is any called in uncircumcision? let him not be circumcised.

¹⁹ Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God.

²⁰ Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called.

²¹ Art thou called being a servant? care not for it: but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather.

²² For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ's servant.

²³ Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.

²⁴ Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God.

²⁵ Now concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord: yet I give my judgment, as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful.

²⁶ I suppose therefore that this is good for the present distress, I say, that it is good for a man so to be.

²⁷ Art thou bound unto a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife.

²⁸ But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned. Nevertheless such shall have trouble in the flesh: but I spare you.

²⁹ But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none;

³⁰ And they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not;

³¹ And they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away.

³² But I would have you without carefulness. He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord:

³³ But he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife.

³⁴ There is difference also between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit: but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband.

³⁵ And this I speak for your own profit; not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is comely, and that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction.

³⁶ But if any man think that he behaveth himself uncomely toward his virgin, if she pass the flower of her age, and need so require, let him do what he will, he sinneth not: let them marry.

³⁷ Nevertheless he that standeth stedfast in his heart, having no necessity, but hath power over his own will, and hath so decreed in his heart that he will keep his virgin, doeth well.

³⁸ So then he that giveth her in marriage doeth well; but he that giveth her not in marriage doeth better.

³⁹ The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord.

⁴⁰ But she is happier if she so abide, after my judgment: and I think also that I have the Spirit of God.

8 Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.

² And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.

³ But if any man love God, the same is known of him.

⁴ As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one.

⁵ For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,)

⁶ But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.

⁷ Howbeit there is not in every man that knowledge: for some with conscience of the idol unto this hour eat it as a thing offered unto an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled.

⁸ But meat commendeth us not to God: for neither, if we eat, are we the better; neither, if we eat not, are we the worse.

⁹ But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumblingblock to them that are weak.

¹⁰ For if any man see thee which hast knowledge sit at meat in the idol's temple, shall not the conscience of him which is weak be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols;

¹¹ And through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?

¹² But when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ.

¹³ Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.