Job 36
International Children’s Bible
Elihu’s Speech Continues
36 Elihu continued:
2 “Listen to me a little longer. Then I will show you
that there is more to be said for God’s side.
3 What I know comes from far away.
I will show that God, 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 God will not keep evil people alive.
But he gives troubled people their rights.
7 God does not stop watching over those who do right.
He sets them on thrones with kings.
And he lifts them up on high forever.
8 People may be bound in chains.
Or trouble may tie them up like ropes around them.
9 But then God tells them what they have done.
He tells them they have sinned by being too proud.
10 God makes them listen to his warning.
He 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 better.
13 “People who have wicked hearts hold on to anger.
Even when God ties them down with trouble, they do not cry for help.
14 They die while they are still young.
They die among the male prostitutes at the places of worship.
15 But God will save suffering people by their suffering.
He gets them to listen through their pain.
16 “God is gently calling you from the jaws of trouble.
He is calling you to an open place of freedom.
There he has set your table full of the best food.
17 But now you are given the punishment evil people should have.
Now you are being punished.
18 Be careful! Don’t be led away from God by riches.
Don’t let a promise of 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.
That is 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 does great things by his power.
No other teacher is like him.
23 No one has planned his ways for him.
No one has said to God, ‘You have done wrong.’
24 Remember to praise his work.
Men sing about it.
25 Everybody has seen it.
People look at it from far off.
26 God is so great! He is greater than we can understand!
No one can discover how many years he has been alive.
27 “God takes up the drops of water from the earth.
And he turns them into drops of rain.
28 Then the rain pours down from the clouds.
And showers fall on people.
29 No one understands how God spreads out the clouds.
No one understands how he thunders from where he lives.
30 Watch how God scatters his lightning around him.
It even lights 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 he commands it to strike its target.
33 His thunder announces that a storm is coming.
Even the cattle show that the storm is coming.
Job 36
Modern English Version
Elihu Proclaims God’s Majesty
36 Elihu continued and said:
2 “Bear with me a little, and I will show you
that I have yet to speak on God’s behalf.
3 I will bring my knowledge from afar
and will ascribe righteousness to my Maker.
4 For truly my words will not be false;
He who is perfect in knowledge is with you.
5 “Behold, God is mighty and despises no one;
He is mighty in strength and wisdom.
6 He does not preserve the life of the wicked,
but gives justice to the poor.
7 He does not withdraw His eyes from the righteous;
but they are on the throne with kings,
for He establishes them forever, and they are exalted.
8 If they are bound in chains
and held in cords of affliction,
9 then He shows them their work,
and their transgressions that they have exceeded;
10 and He opens their ear to discipline,
and commands that they turn from iniquity.
11 If they obey and serve Him,
they will spend their days in prosperity
and their years in pleasures.
12 But if they do not obey,
they will perish by the sword,
and they will die without knowledge.
13 “But the hypocrites in heart heap up wrath;
they do not cry out when He binds them.
14 They die in youth,
and their life ends among the unclean.
15 He delivers the poor in their affliction,
and opens their ears in oppression.
16 “Even so He would have removed you out of distress
into a broad place where there is no restraint;
and that which was set on your table would be full of richness.
17 But you are filled with the judgment due the wicked;
judgment and justice take hold of you.
18 Because there is wrath, beware lest He take you away with a blow;
even a great ransom cannot deliver you.
19 Will He esteem your riches?
No, not gold, nor all the force of your strength.
20 Do not desire the night,
when people are cut off in their place.
21 Take heed! Do not turn to iniquity,
for you have chosen this rather than affliction.
22 “Behold, God is exalted in His power;
who teaches like Him?
23 Who has prescribed His way for Him?
Or who can say, ‘You have worked iniquity’?
24 Remember to magnify His work,
which men behold.
25 Every man may see it;
man may behold it from afar.
26 Look, God is great, and we do not know Him,
nor can the number of His years be searched out.
27 “For He draws up the drops of water;
they distill rain according to its mist,
28 which the clouds drop down,
and drip upon man abundantly.
29 Indeed, can anyone understand the spreading of clouds,
or the noise of His tent?
30 See, He spreads His light upon it
and covers the bottom of the sea.
31 For by these He judges the people;
He gives food in abundance.
32 With clouds He covers the light,
and commands it to strike the mark.
33 Its thunder declares it,
the cattle also, concerning the rising storm.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.