1 E lihu proceeded and said,
2 B ear with me and wait a little longer, and I will show you, for I have something still to say on God’s behalf.
3 I will bring my knowledge from afar and will ascribe righteousness to my Maker.
4 F or truly my words shall not be false; He Who is perfect in knowledge is with you.
5 B ehold! God is mighty, and yet despises no one nor regards anything as trivial; He is mighty in power of understanding and heart.
6 H e does not prolong the life of the wicked, but gives the needy and afflicted their right.
7 H e withdraws not His eyes from the righteous (the upright in right standing with God); but He sets them forever with kings upon the throne, and they are exalted.
8 A nd if they are bound in fetters and held by cords of affliction,
9 T hen He shows to them their deeds and their transgressions, that they have acted arrogantly.
10 H e also opens their ears to instruction and discipline, and commands that they return from iniquity.
11 I f they obey and serve Him, they shall spend their days in prosperity and their years in pleasantness and joy.
12 B ut if they obey not, they shall perish by the sword, and they shall die in ignorance of true knowledge.
13 B ut the godless and profane in heart heap up anger; they do not cry to Him when He binds them.
14 T hey die in youth, and their life perishes among the unclean (those who are sodomites).
15 H e delivers the afflicted in their affliction and opens their ears in adversity.
16 I ndeed, God would have allured you out of the mouth of distress into a broad place where there is no situation of perplexity or privation; and that which would be set on your table would be full of fatness.
17 B ut if you are filled with the judgment of the wicked, judgment and justice will keep hold on you.
18 F or let not wrath entice you into scorning chastisements; and let not the greatness of the ransom turn you aside.
19 W ill your cry be sufficient to keep you from distress, or will all the force of your strength do it?
20 D esire not the night, when peoples are cut off from their places;
21 T ake heed, turn not to iniquity, for this you have chosen rather than affliction.
22 B ehold, God exalts and does loftily in His power; who is a ruler or a teacher like Him?
23 W ho has appointed God His way? Or who can say, You have done unrighteousness?
24 R emember that you magnify God’s work, of which men have sung.
25 A ll men have looked upon God’s work; man may behold it afar off.
26 B ehold, God is great, and we know Him not! The number of His years is unsearchable.
27 F or He draws up the drops of water, which distil as rain from His vapor,
28 W hich the skies pour down and drop abundantly upon mankind.
29 N ot only that, but can anyone understand the spreadings of the clouds or the thunderings of His pavilion?
30 B ehold, He spreads His lightning against the dark clouds and covers the roots of the sea.
31 F or by God executes judgment upon the peoples; He gives food in abundance.
32 H e covers His hands with the lightning and commands it to strike the mark.
33 H is thunderings speak concerning Him; the cattle are told of His coming storm.