Old Testament · Poetry and wisdom

Job chapter 36

Elihu . He went on:Bear with me a little longer and I will show you. There is still on God’s behalf.I will fetch my knowledge from a long way off and .My words are not a lie, I promise you. A man is standing right here with you.Look — God is , and he looks down on no one. He is mighty, and his has all the strength there is.He does not keep the guilty alive, and he gets for the beaten-down.He never takes his eyes off the innocent. He seats them with kings on the throne, settles them there for good, and they are lifted high.And if they end up in chains, caught in the ropes of their own misery,then he shows them what they have done — the way they , how they threw their weight around.He for the and orders them back from what is worthless.If they will listen and serve, they , their years in pleasant things.And if they will not listen, they cross over by and breathe their last .The ones with pile up anger. They will not cry for help even when he has them tied down.Their life ends while they are still young, spent among the .He . He uncovers his ear right in the middle of being crushed.He was luring you out of the jaws of that tight place into , and setting your table with the richest food.But you are stuffed full of the verdict the guilty get. Verdict and justice have you in their grip.Careful — do not let your rage lure you into scorn, and do not let a large enough knock you off course.Will set out a case that keeps the pressure off you — it, or every ounce of strength you can throw behind it?Do not go panting after , when whole peoples are carried off from where they stand.Watch yourself. Do not turn toward what is worthless. You have picked that over your own suffering.Look — God towers up in his own strength. Who ever laid out his road for him? Who ever said to him, “You have ”?Remember to make his work large, the work people have made songs about.Every human being has looked at it. Mortals stare at it .Look — God is beyond us, past anything we know. The number of his years cannot be .He draws the water up drop by drop; it strains down as rain into the he makes.The clouds pour it out, dripping it down on crowds of people.Can anyone follow how the clouds get spread out, the crash of thunder off ?Look — he throws his lightning out around himself and covers .This is how he governs whole peoples. This is how he hands out food, and there is plenty of it.He fills both hands with lightning and orders it to .The crash of it announces him. what is coming up.