• Elihu Says God Gives the Afflicted Justice

  • 1 Then Elihu continued and said,
  • 2 “Wait for me a little, and I will show you That there is yet more to be said in God’s behalf.
  • 3 “I will take up my knowledge from afar, And I will ascribe righteousness to my Maker.
  • 4 “For truly my words are not a lie; One who is perfect in knowledge is with you.
  • 5 “Behold, God is mighty but does not reject; He is mighty in the power of His heart.
  • 6 “He does not keep the wicked alive, But gives justice to the afflicted.
  • 7 “He does not withdraw His eyes from the righteous; But with kings on the throne He has seated them forever, and they are exalted.
  • 8 “And if they are bound in fetters, And are caught in the cords of affliction,
  • 9 Then He declares to them their work And their transgressions, that they have magnified themselves.
  • 10 “He opens their ear to discipline, And says that they return from wickedness.
  • 11 “If they hear and serve Him, They will end their days in prosperity And their years in pleasures.
  • 12 “But if they do not hear, they shall pass away by a weapon And they will breathe their last without knowledge.
  • 13 “But the godless in heart lay up anger; They do not cry for help when He binds them.
  • 14 “They die in youth, And their life perishes among the cult prostitutes.
  • 15 “He delivers the afflicted in their affliction, And opens their ear in time of oppression.
  • 16 “Then indeed, He enticed you from the mouth of distress, Instead of it, a broad place with no constraint; And the comfort of your table full of fatness.
  • 17 “But you were full of judgment on the wicked; Judgment and justice take hold of you.
  • 18 “Beware lest wrath entice you to scoffing; And do not let the greatness of the atonement turn you aside.
  • 19 “Will your cries keep you from distress, Or all the forces of your power?
  • 20 “Do not long for the night, When people vanish in their place.
  • 21 “Be careful, do not turn to wickedness, For you have chosen this to affliction.
  • 22 “Behold, God is exalted in His power; Who is a teacher like Him?
  • 23 “Who has appointed Him His way, And who has said, ‘You have worked out unrighteousness’?
  • 24 “Remember that you should exalt His work, Of which men have sung.
  • 25 “All men have beheld it; Man looks from afar.
  • 26 “Behold, God is exalted, and we do not know Him; The number of His years is unsearchable.
  • 27 “For He draws up the drops of water, They distill rain for His stream,
  • 28 Which the clouds pour down, They drip upon man abundantly.
  • 29 “Can anyone discern the spreading of the clouds, The thundering of His pavilion?
  • 30 “Behold, He spreads His lightning about Him, And He covers the depths of the sea.
  • 31 “For by these He judges peoples; He gives food in abundance.
  • 32 “He covers His hands with the lightning, And commands it to strike the mark.
  • 33 “Its thundering declares about Him; The cattle also, concerning what is coming up.