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¹Elihu continued speaking [to Job] and said,

²"Do you think this is according to [your] justice? Do you say, 'My righteousness is more than God's'?

³"For you say, 'What advantage have you [by living a righteous life]? What profit will I have, more [by being righteous] than if I had sinned?'

⁴"I will answer you, And your companions with you.

⁵"Look to the heavens and see; And behold the skies which are [much] higher than you.

⁶"If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against Him? And if your transgressions are multiplied, what have you done to Him?

⁷"If you are righteous, what do you give God, Or what does He receive from your hand?

⁸"Your wickedness affects only a man such as you, And your righteousness affects only a son of man [but it cannot affect God, who is sovereign].

⁹"Because of the multitudes of oppressions the people cry out; They cry for help because of the [violent] arm of the mighty.

¹⁰"But no one says, 'Where is God my Maker, Who gives songs [of rejoicing] in the night,

¹¹Who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth And makes us wiser than the birds of the heavens?'

¹²"The people cry out, but He does not answer Because of the pride of evil men.

¹³"Surely God will not listen to an empty cry [which lacks trust], Nor will the Almighty regard it.

¹⁴"Even though you say that you do not see Him [when missing His righteous judgment on earth], Yet your case is before Him, and you must wait for Him!

¹⁵"And now, because He has not [quickly] punished in His anger, Nor has He acknowledged transgression and arrogance well [and seems unaware of the wrong of which a person is guilty],

¹⁶Job uselessly opens his mouth And multiplies words without knowledge [drawing the worthless conclusion that the righteous have no more advantage than the wicked]."

¹Elihu continued and said,

²"Bear with me a little longer, and I will show you, That there is yet more to say on God's behalf.

³"I will bring my knowledge from afar, And will ascribe righteousness to my Maker.

⁴"For truly my words are not false; He who is perfect in knowledge is with you.

⁵"Behold, God is mighty, and yet does not despise anyone [nor regard any as trivial]; He is mighty in the strength and power of understanding.

⁶"He does not prolong the life of the wicked, But gives the afflicted their justice.

⁷"He does not withdraw His eyes from the righteous [those in right standing with Him]; But with kings upon the throne He has seated them forever, and they are exalted.

⁸"And if they are bound in bonds [of adversity], And held by cords of affliction,

⁹Then He declares to them [the true character of] their deeds And their transgressions, that they have acted arrogantly [with presumption and notions of self-sufficiency].

¹⁰"He opens their ears to instruction and discipline, And commands that they return from evil.

¹¹"If they hear and serve Him, They will end their days in prosperity And their years in pleasantness and joy.

¹²"But if they do not hear and obey, they will die by the sword [of God's destructive judgments] And they will die [in ignorance] without [true] knowledge.

¹³"But the godless in heart store up anger [at the divine discipline]; They do not cry [to Him] for help when He binds them [with cords of affliction].

¹⁴"They die in youth, And their life ends among the cult prostitutes.

¹⁵"He rescues the afflicted in their affliction, And opens their ears [so that they pay attention to His voice] in times of oppression.

¹⁶"Then indeed, He enticed you from the mouth of distress and confinement, Into a broad place where there is no constraint or distress; And that which was set on your table was full of fatness (rich food).

¹⁷"But you [Job] were full of judgment on the wicked, Judgment and justice take hold of you.

¹⁸"Do not let wrath entice you into scoffing; And do not let the greatness and the extent of the ransom turn you aside.

¹⁹"Will your wealth [be sufficient to] keep you from [the confinement of] distress, Or will all the force of your strength do it?

²⁰"Do not long for the night, When people vanish from their places.

²¹"Take heed and be careful, do not turn to wickedness, For you have chosen this [the vice of complaining against God] rather than [learning from] affliction.

²²"Behold, God is exalted in His power; Who is a ruler or a teacher like Him?

²³"Who has appointed God His way, And who can say [to Him], 'You have done wrong'?

²⁴"Remember that you should magnify God's work, Of which men have sung.

²⁵"All men have seen God's work; Man looks at it from a distance.

²⁶"Behold, God is exalted, and we do not know Him; The number of His years is unsearchable.

²⁷"For He draws up the drops of water, They distill rain from the mist,

²⁸Which the clouds pour down, They drop abundantly upon mankind."

²⁹"Can anyone understand the spreading of the clouds Or the thundering of His pavilion?

³⁰"Behold, He spreads His lightning around Him [against the dark clouds], And He covers the depths of the sea.

³¹"For by these [mighty acts] He judges the peoples; He gives food in abundance.

³²"He covers His hands with the lightning, And commands it to strike the mark.

³³"His thundering voice declares [awesomely] His presence; The cattle also are told of His coming storm.

¹"Indeed, at His thundering my heart trembles And leaps out of its place.

²"Listen carefully to the thunder of His voice, And the rumbling that goes out of His mouth!

³"He lets it loose under the whole heaven, And His lightning to the ends of the earth.

⁴"After it, His voice roars; He thunders with the voice of His majesty, And He does not restrain His lightning [against His adversaries] when His voice is heard.

⁵"God thunders marvelously with His voice; He does great things which we cannot comprehend.

⁶"For He says to the snow, 'Fall on the earth'; And [He speaks] to the showers and to the downpour [of His mighty rains], 'Be strong.'

⁷"God seals (brings to a standstill, stops) [by severe weather] the hand of every man, That all men [whom He has made] may know His work [that is, His sovereign power and their subjection to it].

⁸"Then the beast goes into its lair And remains in its hiding place.

⁹"Out of its chamber comes the storm, And cold from the north wind.

¹⁰"Ice is made by the breath of God, And the expanse of the waters is frozen.

¹¹"He loads the thick cloud with moisture; He disperses the cloud of His lightning.

¹²"Its direction is turned around by His guidance, That it may do whatever He commands it On the face of the inhabited earth.

¹³"Whether [it be] for correction, or for His earth [generally] Or for [His] mercy and lovingkindness, He causes it to happen.

¹⁴"Listen to this, Job; Stand still and consider the wonders of God.

¹⁵"Do you know how God establishes and commands them, And makes the lightning of His [storm] cloud shine?

¹⁶"Do you know about the layers of thick clouds [and how they are balanced and poised in the heavens], The wonderful works of Him who is perfect in knowledge,

¹⁷You whose garments are hot, When He quiets the earth [in sultry summer] with the [oppressive] south wind?

¹⁸"Can you, with Him, spread out the sky, Strong as a molten mirror?

¹⁹"Tell us [Job] what words [of man] shall we say to such a Being; We cannot state our case because of darkness [that is, our ignorance in the presence of the unsearchable God].

²⁰"So shall it be told Him that I wish to speak? Or should a man say that he would be swallowed up [and destroyed by God]?

²¹"Now people cannot look at the light when it is bright in the skies [without being blinded], When the wind has passed and cleared them.

²²"Out of the north comes golden splendor [and people can hardly look on it]; Around God is awesome splendor and majesty [far too glorious for man's eyes].

²³"The Almighty—we cannot find Him; He is exalted in power And He will not do violence to [nor disregard] justice and abundant righteousness.

²⁴"Men therefore fear Him; He does not regard nor respect any who are wise in heart [in their own understanding and conceit]."

¹Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said,

²"Who is this that darkens counsel [questioning my authority and wisdom] By words without knowledge?

³"Now gird up your loins like a man, And I will ask you, and you instruct Me!

⁴"Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you know and have understanding.

⁵"Who determined the measurements [of the earth], if you know? Or who stretched the [measuring] line on it?

⁶"On what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone,

⁷When the morning stars sang together And all the sons of God (angels) shouted for joy?

⁸"Or who enclosed the sea with doors When it burst forth and went out of the womb;

⁹When I made the clouds its garment And thick darkness its swaddling band,

¹⁰And marked for it My [appointed] boundary And set bars and doors [defining the shorelines],

¹¹And said, 'This far you shall come, but no farther; And here your proud waves shall stop'?

¹²"Since your days began, have you ever commanded the morning, And caused the dawn to know its place,

¹³So that light may take hold of the corners of the earth And shake the wickedness out of it?

¹⁴"The earth is changed like clay into which a seal is pressed; And the things [of the earth] stand out like a [multi-colored] garment.

¹⁵"Their light is withheld from the wicked, And the uplifted arm is broken.

¹⁶"Have you entered and explored the springs of the sea Or [have you] walked in the recesses of the deep?

¹⁷"Have the gates of death been revealed to you, Or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?

¹⁸"Have you understood the expanse of the earth? Tell Me, if you know all this.

¹⁹"Where is the way where light dwells? And as for darkness, where is its place,

²⁰That you may take it to its territory And that you may know the paths to its house?

²¹"You [must] know, since you were born then, And because you are so extremely old!

²²"Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, Or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,

²³Which I have reserved for the time of trouble, For the day of battle and war?

²⁴"Where is the way that the light is distributed, Or the east wind scattered over the earth?

²⁵"Who has prepared a channel for the torrents of rain and for the flood, Or a path for the thunderbolt,

²⁶To bring rain on the uninhabited land, And on the desert where no man lives,

²⁷To satisfy the barren and desolate ground And to make the seeds of grass to sprout?

²⁸"Has the rain a father? Or who has begotten the drops of dew?

²⁹"Out of whose womb has come the ice? And the frost of heaven, who has given it birth?

³⁰"Water becomes like stone [and hides itself], And the surface of the deep is frozen and imprisoned.

³¹"Can you bind the chains of [the cluster of stars called] Pleiades, Or loose the cords of [the constellation] Orion?

³²"Can you lead forth a constellation in its season, And guide [the stars of] the Bear with her sons?

³³"Do you know the ordinances of the heavens, Or [can you] establish their rule over the earth?

³⁴"Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, So that an abundance of water will cover you?

³⁵"Can you send forth lightnings that they may go And say to you, 'Here we are'?

³⁶"Who has put wisdom in the innermost being [of man, or in the layers of clouds] Or given understanding to the mind [of man, or to the heavenly display]?

³⁷"Who can count the clouds by [earthly] wisdom, Or pour out the water jars of the heavens,

³⁸When the dust hardens into a mass And the clods stick together [because of the heat]?

³⁹"Can you [Job] hunt the prey for the lion, Or satisfy the appetite of the young lions

⁴⁰When they crouch in their dens And lie in wait in their lair?

⁴¹"Who provides prey for the raven When its young cry to God And wander about without food?