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.