Elihu Sharply Reproves Job

1Then Elihu continued and said,

2“Do you think this is according to justice?

Do you say, ‘My righteousness is more than God’s’?

3For you say, ‘What advantage will it be to You?

What profit will I have, more than if I had sinned?’

4I will answer you,

And your friends with you.

5Look at the heavens and see;

And behold the clouds—they are higher than you.

6If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against Him?

And if your transgressions are many, what do you do to Him?

7If you are righteous, what do you give to Him,

Or what does He receive from your hand?

8Your wickedness is for a man like yourself,

And your righteousness is for a son of man.

9“Because of the multitude of oppressions they cry out;

They cry for help because of the arm of the mighty.

10But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker,

Who gives songs in the night,

11Who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth

And makes us wiser than the birds of the heavens?’

12There they cry out, but He does not answer

Because of the pride of evil men.

13Surely God will not listen to an empty cry,

Nor will the Almighty regard it.

14How much less when you say you do not behold Him,

The case is before Him, and you must wait for Him!

15And now, because He has not visited in His anger,

Nor has He acknowledged transgression well,

16So Job opens his mouth emptily;

He multiplies words without knowledge.”

Elihu Speaks of God’s Dealings with Men

1Then Elihu continued and said,

2“Wait for me a little, and I will show you

That there is yet more to be said in God’s behalf.

3I will fetch my knowledge from afar,

And I will ascribe righteousness to my Maker.

4For truly my words are not false;

One who is perfect in knowledge is with you.

5Behold, God is mighty but does not despise any;

He is mighty in strength of understanding.

6He does not keep the wicked alive,

But gives justice to the afflicted.

7He does not withdraw His eyes from the righteous;

But with kings on the throne

He has seated them forever, and they are exalted.

8And if they are bound in fetters,

And are caught in the cords of affliction,

9Then He declares to them their work

And their transgressions, that they have magnified themselves.

10He opens their ear to instruction,

And commands that they return from evil.

11If they hear and serve Him,

They will end their days in prosperity

And their years in pleasures.

12But if they do not hear, they shall perish by the sword

And they will die without knowledge.

13But the godless in heart lay up anger;

They do not cry for help when He binds them.

14They die in youth,

And their life perishes among the cult prostitutes.

15He delivers the afflicted in their affliction,

And opens their ear in time of oppression.

16Then indeed, He enticed you from the mouth of distress,

Instead of it, a broad place with no constraint;

And that which was set on your table was full of fatness.

17“But you were full of judgment on the wicked;

Judgment and justice take hold of you.

18Beware that wrath does not entice you to scoffing;

And do not let the greatness of the ransom turn you aside.

19Will your riches keep you from distress,

Or all the forces of your strength?

20Do not long for the night,

When people vanish in their place.

21Be careful, do not turn to evil,

For you have preferred this to affliction.

22Behold, God is exalted in His power;

Who is a teacher like Him?

23Who has appointed Him His way,

And who has said, ‘You have done wrong’?

24“Remember that you should exalt His work,

Of which men have sung.

25All men have seen it;

Man beholds from afar.

26Behold, God is exalted, and we do not know Him;

The number of His years is unsearchable.

27For He draws up the drops of water,

They distill rain from the mist,

28Which the clouds pour down,

They drip upon man abundantly.

29Can anyone understand the spreading of the clouds,

The thundering of His pavilion?

30Behold, He spreads His lightning about Him,

And He covers the depths of the sea.

31For by these He judges peoples;

He gives food in abundance.

32He covers His hands with the lightning,

And commands it to strike the mark.

33Its noise declares His presence;

The cattle also, concerning what is coming up.

Elihu Says God Is Back of the Storm

1“At this also my heart trembles,

And leaps from its place.

2Listen closely to the thunder of His voice,

And the rumbling that goes out from His mouth.

3Under the whole heaven He lets it loose,

And His lightning to the ends of the earth.

4After it, a voice roars;

He thunders with His majestic voice,

And He does not restrain the lightnings when His voice is heard.

5God thunders with His voice wondrously,

Doing great things which we cannot comprehend.

6For to the snow He says, ‘Fall on the earth,’

And to the downpour and the rain, ‘Be strong.’

7He seals the hand of every man,

That all men may know His work.

8Then the beast goes into its lair

And remains in its den.

9Out of the south comes the storm,

And out of the north the cold.

10From the breath of God ice is made,

And the expanse of the waters is frozen.

11Also with moisture He loads the thick cloud;

He disperses the cloud of His lightning.

12It changes direction, turning around by His guidance,

That it may do whatever He commands it

On the face of the inhabited earth.

13Whether for correction, or for His world,

Or for lovingkindness, He causes it to happen.

14“Listen to this, O Job,

Stand and consider the wonders of God.

15Do you know how God establishes them,

And makes the lightning of His cloud to shine?

16Do you know about the layers of the thick clouds,

The wonders of one perfect in knowledge,

17You whose garments are hot,

When the land is still because of the south wind?

18Can you, with Him, spread out the skies,

Strong as a molten mirror?

19Teach us what we shall say to Him;

We cannot arrange our case because of darkness.

20Shall it be told Him that I would speak?

Or should a man say that he would be swallowed up?

21“Now men do not see the light which is bright in the skies;

But the wind has passed and cleared them.

22Out of the north comes golden splendor;

Around God is awesome majesty.

23The Almighty—we cannot find Him;

He is exalted in power

And He will not do violence to justice and abundant righteousness.

24Therefore men fear Him;

He does not regard any who are wise of heart.”