² ‘Be patient a little bit longer,
    so that I can teach you some more.
I still have more to say
    to show you that God is right.
³ I will tell you the many different things that I know.
    I will show you that God, my Maker, is completely fair.
⁴ Everything that I say to you is true.
    I am speaking to you as someone who knows everything.
⁵ God is very powerful
    but he does not turn anyone away.
When he decides to do something,
    he surely does it.
⁶ He does not allow wicked people to continue to live.
    But he is always fair to those who are poor and weak.
⁷ He takes care of righteous people.
    He gives them authority to rule like kings.
    He gives them honour for ever.
⁸ People who do wrong things may suffer in prison.
    Chains may hold their legs so that they cannot move.
⁹ When that happens,
    God shows them what they have done.
He shows them their sins.
    They have done wrong things because they are proud.
¹⁰ He tells them this to warn them.
    They must turn away from wicked things.
¹¹ They must obey him and agree to serve him.
    If they do that, they will have everything that they need.
    They will enjoy all the days that they live.
¹² But if they refuse to listen to God,
    they will go to their graves.
They will die
    and they still will not understand what is right.
¹³ People who turn away from God are always angry.
Even when God punishes them,
    they do not pray for help.
¹⁴ They die while they are still young.
    Their lives finish in shame.
They live among the male prostitutes who serve false gods.

¹⁵ But God rescues people who suffer.
    He uses their troubles to teach them about himself.
¹⁶ God has called you out of your troubles, Job.
He wants you to live in a safe place
    where you have no problems.
He wants you to have a comfortable life
    with plenty of good food to eat.
¹⁷ But now you have a lot of trouble,
    because God is punishing you as wicked people deserve.
God is right and fair to judge you like that.
¹⁸ Be very careful!
    Do not let anyone use their riches to deceive you.
Do not let them pay you a lot of money
    to do something that is wrong.
¹⁹ Even if you become rich,
    that would not keep you safe.
Even if you were strong and powerful,
    that would not keep trouble away from you.
²⁰ Do not wait for the night to hide what you want to do.
    That is the time when people disappear from their homes.
²¹ Be careful! Do not try to do wicked things.
God has sent these troubles to test you.
    He wants to stop you doing evil things.

²² Yes, God is very powerful.
    There is no teacher as good as he is.
²³ Nobody can tell him what he should do.
No one can say to him, “You have done things that are wrong.”
²⁴ People sing songs to praise God
    for the things that he has done.
You also should remember to praise him.
²⁵ People everywhere have seen the things that God has done.
    But we look at them from far away.

²⁶ Yes, God is very great!
    We cannot know him completely.
Nobody can count the number of his years!
²⁷ It is God who pulls up water from the earth
    to make the clouds.
    Then he causes it to become rain.
²⁸ The rain pours down from the clouds.
    There is plenty for the people on the earth.
²⁹ Who understands how the clouds move across the sky?
    How does the noise of thunder come from God's home?
³⁰ Look at the lightning that God sends all over the sky!
    But he causes the bottom of the sea to remain dark.
³¹ This is the way that God rules the people of the world.
    He sends the rain to give them plenty of food.
³² He sends his lightning like an arrow.
    He commands it to hit the right place.
³³ He sends thunder to show that a storm is coming.
    Even the cows know what is happening.’