Job 36-38

Job 36

¹And Elihu proceeded and said,

²Suffer me a little, and I will shew thee that I have yet words for +God.

³I will fetch my knowledge from afar, and will ascribe righteousness to my Creator.

⁴For truly my words shall be no falsehood: one perfect in knowledge is with thee.

⁵Lo, God is mighty, but despiseth not any; mighty in strength of understanding:

⁶He saveth not the wicked alive; but he doeth justice to the afflicted.

⁷He withdraweth not his eyes from the righteous, but with kings on the throne doth he even set them for ever; and they are exalted.

⁸And if, bound in fetters, they be held in cords of affliction,

⁹Then he sheweth them their work, and their transgressions, because they have increased.

¹⁰And he openeth their ear to discipline, and commandeth that they return from iniquity.

¹¹If they hearken and serve him, they shall accomplish their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures.

¹²But if they hearken not, they shall pass away by the sword, and expire without knowledge.

¹³But the godless in heart heap up anger; they cry not when he bindeth them:

¹⁴Their soul dieth in youth, and their life is among the unclean.

¹⁵But he delivereth the afflicted in his affliction, and openeth their ear in their oppression.

¹⁶Even so would he have allured thee out of the jaws of distress into a broad place, where there is no straitness; and the supply of thy table would be full of fatness.

¹⁷But thou art full of the judgments of the wicked: judgment and justice take hold on thee.

¹⁸Because there is wrath, beware lest it take thee away through chastisement: then a great ransom could not avail thee.

¹⁹Will he esteem thy riches? Not gold, nor all the resources of strength!

²⁰Desire not the night, when peoples are cut off from their place.

²¹Take heed, turn not to iniquity; for this hast thou chosen rather than affliction.

²²Lo, God is exalted in his power: who teacheth as he?

²³Who hath appointed him his way? or who hath said, Thou hast wrought unrighteousness?

²⁴Remember that thou magnify his work, which men celebrate.

²⁵All men look at it; man beholdeth it afar off.

²⁶Lo, God is great, and we comprehend him not, neither can the number of his years be searched out.

²⁷For he draweth up the drops of water: they distil in rain from the vapour which he formeth,

²⁸Which the skies pour down and drop upon man abundantly.

²⁹But can any understand the spreadings of the clouds, or the crashing of his pavilion?

³⁰Lo, he spreadeth his light around him, and covereth the bottom of the sea.

³¹For with them he judgeth the peoples; he giveth food in abundance.

³²His hands he covereth with lightning, and commandeth it where it is to strike.

³³His thundering declareth concerning him; the cattle even, concerning its coming.

Job 37

¹Aye, my heart trembleth at this also, and leapeth up out of its place:

²Hear attentively the roar of his voice, and the murmur going forth from his mouth.

³He sendeth it forth under the whole heaven, and his lightning unto the ends of the earth.

⁴After it a voice roareth: he thundereth with the voice of his excellency, and holdeth not back the flashes when his voice is heard.

⁵God thundereth marvellously with his voice, doing great things which we do not comprehend.

⁶For he saith to the snow, Fall on the earth! and to the pouring rain, even the pouring rains of his might.

⁷He sealeth up the hand of every man; that all men may know his work.

⁸And the wild beast goeth into its lair, and they remain in their dens.

⁹From the chamber of the south cometh the whirlwind; and cold from the winds of the north.

¹⁰By the breath of God ice is given; and the breadth of the waters is straitened.

¹¹Also with plentiful moisture he loadeth the thick clouds, his light dispels the cloud;

¹²And they are turned every way by his guidance, that they may do whatsoever he commandeth them upon the face of the circuit of the earth,

¹³Whether he cause it to come as a rod, or for his land, or in mercy.

¹⁴Hearken unto this, Job; stand still and discern the wondrous works of God.

¹⁵Dost thou know how +God hath disposed them, and how he causeth the lightning of his cloud to flash?

¹⁶Dost thou know about the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of him that is perfect in knowledge?

¹⁷How thy garments become warm when he quieteth the earth by the south wind?

¹⁸Hast thou with him spread out the sky, firm, like a molten mirror?

¹⁹Teach us what we shall say unto him! We cannot order our words by reason of darkness.

²⁰Shall it be told him if I would speak? if a man so say, surely he shall be swallowed up.

²¹And now men see not the light as it gleameth, it is hidden in the skies. But the wind passeth by and cleareth them.

²²From the north cometh gold; with +God is terrible majesty.

²³The Almighty, we cannot find him out: excellent in power, and in judgment, and in abundance of justice, he doth not afflict.

²⁴Men do therefore fear him: he respecteth not any that are wise of heart.

Job 38

¹And Jehovah answered Job out of the whirlwind and said,

²Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?

³Gird up now thy loins like a man; and I will demand of thee, and inform thou me.

⁴Where wast thou when I founded the earth? Declare, if thou hast understanding.

⁵Who set the measures thereof -- if thou knowest? or who stretched a line upon it?

⁶Whereupon were the foundations thereof sunken? or who laid its corner-stone,

⁷When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

⁸And who shut up the sea with doors, when it burst forth, issuing out of the womb?

⁹When I made the cloud its garment, and thick darkness a swaddling band for it;

¹⁰When I cut out for it my boundary, and set bars and doors,

¹¹And said, Hitherto shalt thou come and no further, and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?

¹²Hast thou since thy days commanded the morning? hast thou caused the dawn to know its place,

¹³That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, and the wicked might be shaken out of it?

¹⁴It is changed like the signet-clay; and all things stand forth as in a garment:

¹⁵And from the wicked their light is withholden, and the uplifted arm is broken.

¹⁶Hast thou entered as far as the springs of the sea? and hast thou walked in the recesses of the deep?

¹⁷Have the gates of death been revealed unto thee? and hast thou seen the gates of the shadow of death?

¹⁸Hath thine understanding compassed the breadths of the earth? Declare if thou knowest it all.

¹⁹Where is the way to where light dwelleth? and the darkness, where is its place,

²⁰That thou shouldest take it to its bound, and that thou shouldest know the paths to its house?

²¹Thou knowest, for thou wast then born, and the number of thy days is great!

²²Hast thou entered into the storehouses of the snow, and hast thou seen the treasuries of the hail,

²³Which I have reserved for the time of distress, for the day of battle and war?

²⁴By what way is the light parted, and the east wind scattered upon the earth?

²⁵Who hath divided a channel for the rain-flood, and a way for the thunder's flash;

²⁶To cause it to rain on the earth, where no one is; on the wilderness wherein there is not a man;

²⁷To satisfy the desolate and waste ground, and to cause the sprout of the grass to spring forth?

²⁸Hath the rain a father? or who begetteth the drops of dew?

²⁹Out of whose womb cometh the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who bringeth it forth?

³⁰When the waters lie hidden as in stone, and the face of the deep holdeth fast together.

³¹Canst thou fasten the bands of the Pleiades, or loosen the cords of Orion?

³²Dost thou bring forth the constellations each in its season? or dost thou guide the Bear with her sons?

³³Knowest thou the ordinances of the heavens? dost thou determine their rule over the earth?

³⁴Dost thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that floods of waters may cover thee?

³⁵Dost thou send forth lightnings that they may go, and say unto thee, Here we are?

³⁶Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts? or who hath given understanding to the mind?

³⁷Who numbereth the clouds with wisdom? or who poureth out the bottles of the heavens,

³⁸When the dust runneth as into a molten mass, and the clods cleave fast together?

³⁹Dost thou hunt the prey for the lioness, and dost thou satisfy the appetite of the young lions,

⁴⁰When they crouch in their dens, and abide in the thicket to lie in wait?

⁴¹Who provideth for the raven his food, when his young ones cry unto God, and they wander for lack of meat?