36 Elihu added:

² “Bear with me a little, and I will show you
that there is more to say on God’s behalf.
³ I may search far and wide for my arguments,
but I will ascribe righteousness to God my maker.
⁴ For the fact is that my words are true;
you have with you a man whose views are pure.

⁵ “Look, God is powerful and despises no one,
powerful in his strength of understanding.
⁶ He does not preserve the lives of the wicked,
but he gives justice to the poor.
⁷ He does not withdraw his eyes from the righteous;
but when he sets kings on their throne forever,
they may become proud;
⁸ if, then, they are bound in chains,
held in oppressive cords,
⁹ he shows them the results of their doings,
the crimes caused by their pride.
¹⁰ He sounds a warning in their ears
and orders them to repent of their evil.

¹¹ “If they pay attention and obey him,
they spend their days in prosperity;
their years pass pleasantly.
¹² But if they don’t pay attention,
they perish by the sword
and die without learning their lesson.
¹³ The godless in heart cherish their anger,
not crying for help when he binds them.
¹⁴ Their soul perishes in their youth,
and their life becomes depraved.

¹⁵ “God, with his affliction,
delivers the afflicted;
and he gets their attention
by pressing on them.
¹⁶ Indeed [Iyov], he is drawing you
away from distress
to an untroubled open place,
with rich food on your table.
¹⁷ But the judgment on the wicked
applies fully to you,
judgment and condemnation
take hold [of them].
¹⁸ For beware of wrath
when abundance entices you;
don’t let a big bribe
turn you aside.
¹⁹ Will your great wealth help you?
or all your efforts, no matter how strong?
²⁰ Don’t desire the night,
when people suddenly die.
²¹ Be careful; turn away from wrongdoing;
for because of this, you have been tested by affliction.

²² “Look, God is exalted in his strength;
who is a teacher like him?
²³ Who ever prescribed his course for him?
Who ever said, ‘What you are doing is wrong’?
²⁴ Remember, rather, to magnify his work,
of which many have sung.
²⁵ Everyone has seen it,
[but] humans see it [only] from a distance.
²⁶ Look, God is great, beyond what we can know;
the number of his years is uncountable.

²⁷ “He makes the droplets of water,
which condense into rain from his mist.
²⁸ The clouds pour it down
upon humankind in abundance.
²⁹ Can anyone fathom the spreading of the clouds,
or the crashes that come from his canopy?
³⁰ See how he scatters his lightning over it
and covers the roots of the sea.
³¹ By these things he judges the people
and also gives food in plenty.
³² He gathers the lightning into his hands
and commands it to strike the target.
³³ Its crashing announces its presence
and apprises the cattle of what is coming.