Elihu Describes God’s Power

1And Elihu added and said:

2“Surround unto me a little, and I will show you,

that there are words yet to God.

3I will lift up my knowledge from afar,

and to my Maker I will ascribe righteousness.

4For truly, my words are not false;

the one complete in knowledge is with you.

5Behold, God is mighty, and He does not despise;

He is mighty in strength of heart.

6He does not keep the wicked alive,

and He gives justice to the afflicted.

7He does not take away His eyes from the righteous,

but they are with kings on the throne;

and He has seated them forever, and they are exalted.

8And if they are bound in the fetters,

caught in the cords of affliction,

9then he declares to them their work and their transgressions,

because they magnified themselves.

10And He opens their ear to correction,

and He says that they should turn back from iniquity.

11If they do hear and serve,

they will complete their days in good,

and their years in pleasantness.

12And if they do not obey,

by a weapon they shall pass away,†

and they shall die as without knowledge.

13And the godless of heart set the nose;

they do not cry out when He binds them.

14Their soul dies in youth,

and their life among the male shrine prostitutes.

15He rescues the afflicted one by his affliction,

and uncovers their ear by oppression.

16And indeed He has drawn you from the mouth of distress,

into a broad place without constraint under it,

and the resting of your table is full of richness.

17And you are filled with the judgment of the wicked;

judgment and justice take hold—

18for wrath, lest it entice you with mocking,

and a large bribe not let it stretch you.

19Can your opulence† make arrangement in time of distress,

or all the forces of strength?

20Do not long for the night,

for the coming up of peoples in place of them.

21Take heed not to turn to iniquity,

for upon this you have been chosen by affliction.

22Behold, God is exalted in His power;

who is a teacher like Him?

23Who has appointed for Him His way?

Or who has said, ‘You have done unrighteousness’?

24Remember that you should magnify His work,

of which men have sung.

25Every man has gazed on it;

mankind looks on it from afar.

26Behold, God is great, and we do not know Him,

and there is no searching the number of His years.

27For He draws up drops of water;

they distill as rain from the mist,

28which the clouds pour down;

they drop upon man in abundance.

29Indeed, if one will understand the spreading out of a cloud,

the noises from His pavilion?

30Behold, He scatters His lightning around Him,

and covers the depths of the sea.

31For by these He judges† the peoples;

He gives food in abundance.

32With His palms He covers the lightning,

and He gives a charge upon it for its striking.

33By its shouting He declares concerning it,

the cattle also concerning the arising.