Job 36  Holman Christian Standard Bible

² Be patient with me a little longer, and I will inform you,
for there is still more to be said on God’s behalf.
³ I will get my knowledge from a distant place
and ascribe justice to my Maker.
⁴ For my arguments are without flaw;^[a]
one who has perfect knowledge is with you.

⁵ Yes, God is mighty, but He despises no one;
He understands all things.^[b](A)
6 He does not keep the wicked alive,^(B)
but He gives justice to the afflicted.
⁷ He does not remove His gaze from the righteous,
but He seats them forever with enthroned kings,
and they are exalted.

⁸ If people are bound with chains
and trapped by the cords of affliction,
⁹ God tells them what they have done
and how arrogantly they have transgressed.
¹⁰ He opens their ears^(C) to correction
and insists they repent from iniquity.
¹¹ If they serve Him obediently,
they will end their days in prosperity
and their years in happiness.^(D)
12 But if they do not obey,
they will cross the river of death^[c]
and die without knowledge.^(E)

¹³ Those who have a godless heart harbor anger;
even when God binds them, they do not cry for help.
¹⁴ They die in their youth;
their life ends among male cult prostitutes.^(F)
15 God rescues the afflicted by their affliction;
He instructs them by their torment.

¹⁶ Indeed, He lured you from the jaws^[d] of distress
to a spacious and unconfined place.
Your table was spread with choice food.
¹⁷ Yet now you are obsessed with the judgment due the wicked;
judgment and justice have seized you.
¹⁸ Be careful that no one lures you with riches;^[e]
do not let a large ransom^[f] lead you astray.^(G)
19 Can your wealth^[g] or all your physical exertion
keep you from distress?^(H)
20 Do not long for the night
when nations will disappear from their places.
²¹ Be careful that you do not turn to iniquity,
for that is why you have been tested by^[h] affliction.

²² Look, God shows Himself exalted by His power.
Who is a teacher like Him?
²³ Who has appointed His way for Him,
and who has declared, “You have done wrong”?^(I)
24 Remember that you should praise His work,
which people have sung about.^(J)
25 All mankind has seen it;
people have looked at it from a distance.^(K)
26 Yes, God is exalted beyond our knowledge;^(L)
the number of His years cannot be counted.^(M)
27 For He makes waterdrops evaporate;^[i]
they distill the rain into its^[j] mist,^(N)
28 which the clouds pour out
and shower abundantly on mankind.
²⁹ Can anyone understand how the clouds spread out
or how the thunder roars from God’s pavilion?^(O)
30 See how He spreads His lightning^(P) around Him
and covers the depths of the sea.
³¹ For He judges the nations with these;
He gives food in abundance.^(Q)
32 He covers His hands with lightning
and commands it to hit its mark.
³³ The^[k] thunder declares His presence;^[l]
the cattle also, the approaching storm.