Job 36

New International Reader's Version

² “Put up with me a little longer.
    I’ll show you I can speak up for God even more.
³ I get my knowledge from far away.
    I’ll announce that the God who made me is fair.
⁴ You can be sure that my words are true.
    One who has perfect knowledge is talking to you.

⁵ “God is mighty, but he doesn’t hate people.
    He’s mighty, and he knows exactly what he’s going to do.
⁶ He doesn’t keep alive those who are evil.
    Instead, he gives suffering people their rights.
⁷ He watches over those who do what is right.
    He puts them on thrones as if they were kings.
    He honors them forever.
⁸ But some people are held by chains.
    Their pain ties them up like ropes.
⁹ God tells them what they’ve done.
    He tells them they’ve become proud and sinned against him.
¹⁰ He makes them listen when he corrects them.
    He commands them to turn away
    from the evil things they’ve done.
¹¹ If they obey him and serve him,
    they’ll enjoy a long and happy life.
    Things will go well with them.
¹² But if they don’t listen to him,
    they’ll be killed by swords.
    They’ll die because they didn’t want to know anything about him.

¹³ “Those whose hearts are ungodly are always angry.
    Even when God puts them in chains,
    they don’t cry out for help.
¹⁴ They die while they are still young.
    They die among the male prostitutes at the temples.
¹⁵ But God saves suffering people while they suffer.
    He speaks to them while they are hurting.

¹⁶ “Job, he wants to take you out of the jaws of trouble.
    He wants to bring you to a wide and safe place.
    He’d like to seat you at a table that is loaded with the best food.
¹⁷ But now you are loaded down
    with the punishment sinners will receive.
    You have been judged fairly.
¹⁸ Be careful that no one tempts you with riches.
    Don’t take money from people who want special favors,
    no matter how much it is.
¹⁹ Can your wealth keep you out of trouble?
    Can all your mighty efforts keep you going?
²⁰ Don’t wish for the night to come
    so you can drag people away from their homes.
²¹ Be careful not to do what is evil.
    You seem to like evil better than suffering!

²² “God is honored because he is so powerful.
    There is no teacher equal to him.
²³ Who has told him what he can do?
    Who has said to him, ‘You have done what is wrong’?
²⁴ Remember to thank him for what he’s done.
    People have praised him with their songs.
²⁵ Every human being has seen his work.
    People can see it from far away.
²⁶ How great God is! We’ll never completely understand him.
    We’ll never find out how long he has lived.

²⁷ “He makes mist rise from the water.
    Then it falls as rain into the streams.
²⁸ The clouds pour down their moisture.
    Rain showers fall on people everywhere.
²⁹ Who can understand how God spreads out the clouds?
    Who can explain how he thunders from his home in heaven?
³⁰ See how he scatters his lightning around him!
    He lights up the deepest parts of the ocean.
³¹ The rain he sends makes things grow for the nations.
    He provides them with plenty of food.
³² He holds lightning bolts in his hands.
    He commands them to strike their marks.
³³ His thunder announces that a storm is coming.
    Even the cattle let us know it’s approaching.