Beginning
35 Elihu continued advising.
2 Elihu: Job, is this your idea of justice,
that you would say, “My righteousness exceeds God’s”?
3 For you say something like, “What good does it do You if I do right?
What is in it for me if I don’t sin?”
4 I will return your words with my own,
and I will answer your friends with you.
5 Look at the skies above and take notice.
See how high the clouds are—they are so far above you!
6 Surely, if the clouds maintain such a distance,
one must wonder: how high up and far away is God?
If you sin, how much have you really accomplished against Him?
If you pile up your sins, if you stack them high, what does it do to Him?
7 Likewise, if you are righteous, what does that confer to Him,
or what gift does He receive from your outstretched hand of righteous generosity?
8 Listen! Your wickedness affects your own kind,
and your righteousness only helps other human beings.
9 People call out to God when they feel the crush of oppression.
They implore Him for deliverance from the strong hand of tyranny.
10 But none of them pleads in this way: “Where is God, my Creator,
who gives songs of comfort in the silence and suffering of night,
11 Who enlightens us more than the animals of the field,
who instructs us in wisdom more than the birds of the air?”
12 And so, in the absence of such prayers,
God does not answer the cries of the people
because they cry with the arrogance of the wicked.
13 Indeed, God does not hear the vain and empty cry,
nor does the Highest One[a] pay it any mind.
14 How much less must He hear you—
you who say you cannot see Him,[b]
You who say you have already pled your case before Him
but that you are still waiting for Him.
15 And now, here we are.
Because God has not been swift to punish in His anger,
because He does not concern Himself with great arrogance,[c]
16 Job opens his mouth and out comes empty talk.
Yes, he heaps up words with ignorance.
36 Elihu continued.
2 Elihu: Wait for me to finish, and I will explain.
There is still more to be said on God’s behalf.
3 I will acquire my knowledge from ancient, far away sources
and illustrate the righteous ways of my Maker.
4 Truly, there is no untruth hidden in my words;
in fact, perfect knowledge has graced your presence.
5 Look! God has great strength, but He does not detest human beings;
He is mighty indeed, and His heart swells with understanding.
6 He does not preserve the life of the wicked,
but He grants justice to those who are weak and humble.
7 He does not divert His gaze from the righteous;
He enthrones them with monarchs,
lifts them up to positions of power forever.
8 And if the people are restrained in chains,
caught in the cords of their misery,
9 Then He explains to them their exploits,
their errors, and how they have lived in arrogance.
10 He uncovers their ears so as to hear His teaching
and commands them to abandon their sinful path.
11 If they hear and choose to serve Him,
then they end their days in prosperity and their years in felicity.
12 But if they refuse to listen,
then they will pass over to the land of death by the sword
and will arrive, lacking any wisdom, at their death.
13 The sullied and impure stash away their anger.
Even when He puts them in chains for their own good,
they refuse to cry for His help.
14 They die young,
debased among the male prostitutes of the shrines.
15 As for the righteous—when they are afflicted—
God delivers them through the affliction itself,
and uses the trial to open their ears to His voice.
16 Job, even now, God is enticing you away from the jaws of distress;
He is luring you to a wide, wonderful place free of boundaries
where your table will be covered in the finest foods.
17 You are weighed down, instead, with judgment usually reserved for the wicked.
And yet, ironically, as you seek to lay hold of justice and judgment,
justice and judgment have laid hold of you.
18 Beware that your anger at how you are being judged does not seduce you into scorning.
Do not let the high ransom you are paying through your suffering steer you off God’s path.
19 Will your cry for help lessen your misery?
How about your strength and forcefulness?
Are they yielding you any better result?
20 Do not pine, Job, for the night
when people pass from their earthly homes into oblivion.[d]
21 In short, be careful! Do not turn your life toward evil ways—
which you have preferred to hearing God’s correcting voice in the midst of your suffering.
22 See, God is supreme in His power.
Is there any teacher like Him?
23 Is anyone capable of overseeing His path?
Who has ever said to Him, “You have done wrong”?
24 Remember to praise His works,
which generations have celebrated in song.
25 All of humankind has seen them
and has gazed upon them from far away.
26 Look, God is exalted, beyond all knowing.
The number of His years is vast, beyond all discovery.
27 For He draws up drops of water,
distills the rain from the mist
28 Which pours down from the clouds,
dripping a sky full of water over the whole of humanity.
29 It is beyond comprehension: the fanning out of the clouds,
the crashing thunder from His cloudy pavilion.
30 Ah, and then He extends His lightning over the earth,
striking even the sea to illumine its depths.
31 For with these, He judges the peoples—
lightning punishing His enemies and rain blessing His people—
but now with those same waters, He gives them food in abundance.
32 In the palms of His hands He holds lightning
and issues orders for it to strike its target.
33 Thunder announces His presence;
His jealous anger[e] is against what is coming.
The discussion has included many references to nature and weather. Maybe it has been spoken in the midst of a storm and as a clap of thunder sounds overhead, startling all five of the men. Elihu picks up the conversation again with renewed vigor, possibly gesturing toward the sky as he speaks about the storm of life in which Job is caught.
For the patriarchs, there is really no greater mystery in the natural world than the weather. What keeps the rain up in the sky, or what makes it fall to the earth? Why does water sometimes freeze and sometimes dry up? What is lightning and thunder? Weather impacts every part of their lives, determining whether or not they can farm and pasture animals, where they can live, and if they can live. Since none of these questions can be answered with scientific explanations yet, societies invent gods whom they think control it all. Ancient people hope that by doing or saying the right thing, they can convince the god to send rain when it is needed or stop the damaging hail before their roofs cave in. These pagan worshipers aren’t too far off in their thinking; they just have the wrong god.
The Lord’s followers have the answer right in believing He controls it all. When they look at the weather, they see God’s power. As God will expound upon Himself shortly, the One who controls the weather is the One who created it. He put order in the cosmos, although humans may not always understand its order, just as He organized everything else. God, who has perfect understanding and unimaginable power, cannot be comprehended with the human mind and should not be questioned by the likes of Job.
37 Elihu: At this, my heart quivers,
and it nearly leaps out of my chest.
2 Listen! Listen to the raging anger in His voice,
the rumbling that’s coming from His mouth!
3 He sets the roar loose across the whole length of the sky,
and His lightning flashes to the ends of the earth.
4 After the flash comes the deafening roar of His voice,
the voice that thunders His majesty—
The voice that resounds with no evidence of restraint,
5 the voice of God that is thundering wondrously.
He does magnificent things, beyond our comprehension.
6 To the snow, He issues the order: “Go! Fall on the earth!”
And to the rain shower, He says, “Show your power; beat down heavy on the earth!”
7 Then, as the weather drives laborers indoors,
He closes in around every human hand,
sealing them off from their labors,
and in forced rest, all are drawn to see the ongoing work of God.
8 The beast of the field scampers for cover,
hiding in its cave for the duration.
9 Meanwhile, the whirlwind comes forth from its southern chamber,
and the arctic winds bring the cold.
10 From the breath of God ice forms,
and the wide waters of the rivers and seas expand in the freeze.
11 He weighs down the thick clouds with moisture,
and they scatter His clusters of light.
12 The storm changes course under His guidance;
it moves as He directs over the contours of the entire earth.
13 And what is His aim? Whether for the discipline of His people
or for the sake of the earth itself,
Or as an expression of His deep, loyal love,
He causes all of this to happen.
14 Hear this, Job.
Pause where you are, and ponder the wonders of God.
15 Do you know how God orchestrates these marvels?
How He makes the clouds flash with lightning?
16 Do you know how those same clouds are hung up in the sky or how they move?
Do you know the wonders of God, who is perfect in His knowledge of such things?
17 You, who feel the wind of His voice even now,
are the same one whose clothes are hot to the touch
when God makes the land go still beneath the south wind.
18 Can you assist God in hammering out the silver sky
until it appears as hard as cast metal mirror?[f]
19 Job, tell us what to say to Him.
We cannot draw up our argument before such impenetrable darkness.
20 Shall He be told that I wish to speak to Him directly?
Will it help if I admit I would be consumed if I did?
21 But now no one can see the brightness of the light through the thick clouds;
as the wind changes and blows through the sky, it clears the air.
22 From the north, the weather changes;
golden skies encircle God, now clothed in awesome majesty.
23 We cannot find the Highest One:[g]
He is exalted in power,
Great in righteousness,
and does not depreciate humanity.
24 This is why mortals fear Him;
He doesn’t see the wise of heart.[h]
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.