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Wait a little and I will instruct you,
    for there are still words to be said for God.
I will assemble arguments from afar,
    and for my maker I will establish what is right.
For indeed, my words are not a lie;
    one perfect in knowledge is before you.
Look, God is great, not disdainful;
    his strength of purpose is great.
He does not preserve the life of the wicked.
He establishes the right of the poor;(A)
    he does not divert his eyes from the just
But he seats them upon thrones
    with kings, exalted forever.(B)
If they are bound with fetters,
    held fast by bonds of affliction,
He lets them know what they have done,
    and how arrogant are their sins.
10 He opens their ears to correction
    and tells them to turn back from evil.
11 If they listen and serve him,
    they spend their days in prosperity,
    their years in happiness.
12 But if they do not listen, they pass to the grave,
    they perish for lack of knowledge.
13 The impious in heart lay up anger;
    they do not cry for help when he binds them;
14 They will die young—
    their life[a] among the reprobate.
15 But he saves the afflicted through their affliction,
    and opens their ears through oppression.
16 [b]He entices you from distress,
    to a broad place without constraint;
    what rests on your table is rich food.
17 Though you are full of the judgment of the wicked,
    judgment and justice will be maintained.
18 Let not anger at abundance entice you,
    nor great bribery lead you astray.
19 Will your wealth equip you against distress,
    or all your exertions of strength?
20 Do not long for the night,
    when peoples vanish in their place.
21 Be careful; do not turn to evil;
    for this you have preferred to affliction.
22 [c]Look, God is exalted in his power.
    What teacher is there like him?
23 Who prescribes for him his way?
    Who says, “You have done wrong”?(C)
24 Remember, you should extol his work,
    which people have praised in song.
25 All humankind beholds it;
    everyone views it from afar.
26 See, God is great beyond our knowledge,
    the number of his years past searching out.
27 He holds in check the waterdrops
    that filter in rain from his flood,
28 Till the clouds flow with them
    and they rain down on all humankind.
29 [d]Can anyone understand the spreading clouds,
    the thunderings from his tent?
30 Look, he spreads his light over it,
    it covers the roots of the sea.
31 For by these he judges the nations,
    and gives food in abundance.
32 In his hands he holds the lightning,
    and he commands it to strike the mark.
33 His thunder announces him
    and incites the fury of the storm.

Chapter 37

At this my heart trembles
    and leaps out of its place.
Listen to his angry voice[e]
    and the rumble that comes forth from his mouth!
Everywhere under the heavens he sends it,
    with his light, to the ends of the earth.
Again his voice roars,
    his majestic voice thunders;
    he does not restrain them when his voice is heard.
God thunders forth marvels with his voice;
    he does great things beyond our knowing.
He says to the snow, “Fall to the earth”;
    likewise to his heavy, drenching rain.
He shuts up all humankind indoors,
    so that all people may know his work.
The wild beasts take to cover
    and remain quiet in their dens.
Out of its chamber the tempest comes forth;
    from the north winds, the cold.
10 With his breath God brings the frost,
    and the broad waters congeal.(D)
11 The clouds too are laden with moisture,
    the storm-cloud scatters its light.
12 [f]He it is who changes their rounds, according to his plans,
    to do all that he commands them
    across the inhabited world.
13 Whether for punishment or mercy,
    he makes it happen.
14 Listen to this, Job!
    Stand and consider the marvels of God!
15 Do you know how God lays his command upon them,
    and makes the light shine forth from his clouds?
16 Do you know how the clouds are banked,
    the marvels of him who is perfect in knowledge?
17 You, who swelter in your clothes
    when calm lies over the land from the south,
18 Can you with him spread out the firmament of the skies,
    hard as a molten mirror?[g]
19 Teach us then what we shall say to him;
    we cannot, for the darkness, make our plea.
20 Will he be told about it when I speak?
    Can anyone talk when he is being destroyed?
21 Rather, it is as the light that cannot be seen
    while it is obscured by the clouds,
    till the wind comes by and sweeps them away.[h]
22 From Zaphon[i] the golden splendor comes,
    surrounding God’s awesome majesty!
23 The Almighty! We cannot find him,
    preeminent in power and judgment,
    abundant in justice, who never oppresses.
24 Therefore people fear him;
    none can see him, however wise their hearts.[j]

Footnotes

  1. 36:14 Life: a miserable life before death or a shadowy existence in Sheol. Reprobate: cf. Dt 23:18–19.
  2. 36:16–20 The Hebrew text here is obscure. Although each verse makes some sense, they do not constitute a logical sequence.
  3. 36:22–25 These verses serve as an introduction to the hymn about the divine marvels, 36:26–37:24, which in some respects anticipates the tone and content of the Lord’s speeches in chaps. 38–41.
  4. 36:29–31 The translation of these verses is uncertain.
  5. 37:2 Voice: the thunder.
  6. 37:12–13 The translation of these verses is uncertain.
  7. 37:18 The firmament…mirror: the ancients thought of the sky as a ceiling above which were the “upper waters” (cf. Gn 1:6–7; 7:11); when this ceiling became as hard as metal, the usual rain failed to fall on the earth (cf. Lv 26:19; Dt 28:23).
  8. 37:21 Elihu argues that even though God seems not to know our circumstances, he does know them, just as surely as the sun shines behind the clouds.
  9. 37:22 Zaphon: the mythical mountain of the gods; cf. note on 26:7.
  10. 37:24 The concluding remark of Elihu is ironic in view of the appearance of the Lord in the next chapter and Job’s claim in 42:5.