Job 36-38

Job 36

¹And Elihu went on to say,

²Give me a little more time, and I will make it clear to you; for I have still something to say for God.

³I will get my knowledge from far, and I will give righteousness to my Maker.

⁴For truly my words are not false; one who has all knowledge is talking with you.

⁵Truly, God gives up the hard-hearted, and will not give life to the sinner.

⁶His eyes are ever on the upright, and he gives to the crushed their right;

⁷Lifting them up to the seat of kings, and making them safe for ever.

⁸And if they have been prisoned in chains, and taken in cords of trouble,

⁹Then he makes clear to them what they have done, even their evil works in which they have taken pride.

¹⁰Their ear is open to his teaching, and he gives them orders so that their hearts may be turned from evil.

¹¹If they give ear to his voice, and do his word, then he gives them long life, and years full of pleasure.

¹²But if not, they come to their end, and give up their breath without knowledge.

¹³Those who have no fear of God keep wrath stored up in their hearts; they give no cry for help when they are made prisoners.

¹⁴They come to their end while they are still young, their life is short like that of those who are used for sex purposes in the worship of their gods.

¹⁵He makes the wrong done to the poor the way of their salvation, opening their ears by their trouble.

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²¹Take care not to be turned to sin, for you have taken evil for your part in place of sorrow.

²²Truly God is lifted up in strength; who is a ruler like him?

²³Who ever gave orders to him, or said to him, You have done wrong?

²⁴See that you give praise to his work, about which men make songs.

²⁵All people are looking on it; man sees it from far.

²⁶Truly, God is great, greater than all our knowledge; the number of his years may not be searched out.

²⁷For he takes up the drops from the sea; he sends them through his mist as rain,

²⁸Flowing down from the sky, and dropping on the peoples.

²⁹And who has knowledge of how the clouds are stretched out, or of the thunders of his tent?

³⁰See, he is stretching out his mist, covering the tops of the mountains with it.

³¹For by these he gives food to the peoples, and bread in full measure.

³²He takes the light in his hands, sending it against the mark.

³³The thunder makes clear his passion, and the storm gives news of his wrath.

Job 37

¹At this my heart is shaking; it is moved out of its place.

²Give ear to the rolling noise of his voice; to the hollow sound which goes out of his mouth.

³He sends it out through all the heaven, and his thunder-flame to the ends of the earth.

⁴After it a voice is sounding, thundering out the word of his power; he does not keep back his thunder-flames; from his mouth his voice is sounding.

⁵He does wonders, more than may be searched out; great things of which we have no knowledge;

⁶For he says to the snow, Make the earth wet; and to the rain-storm, Come down.

⁷He puts an end to the work of every man, so that all may see his work.

⁸Then the beasts go into their holes, and take their rest.

⁹Out of its place comes the storm-wind, and the cold out of its store-houses.

¹⁰By the breath of God ice is made, and the wide waters are shut in.

¹¹The thick cloud is weighted with thunder-flame, and the cloud sends out its light;

¹²And it goes this way and that, round about, turning itself by his guiding, to do whatever he gives orders to be done, on the face of his world of men,

¹³For a rod, or for a curse, or for mercy, causing it to come on the mark.

¹⁴Give ear to this, O Job, and keep quiet in your place; and take note of the wonders worked by God.

¹⁵Have you knowledge of God's ordering of his works, how he makes the light of his cloud to be seen?

¹⁶Have you knowledge of the balancings of the clouds, the wonders of him who has all wisdom?

¹⁷You, whose clothing is warm, when the earth is quiet because of the south wind,

¹⁸Will you, with him, make the skies smooth, and strong as a polished looking-glass?

¹⁹Make clear to me what we are to say to him; we are unable to put our cause before him, because of the dark.

²⁰How may he have knowledge of my desire for talk with him? or did any man ever say, May destruction come on me?

²¹And now the light is not seen, for it is dark because of the clouds; but a wind comes, clearing them away.

²²A bright light comes out of the north; God's glory is greatly to be feared.

²³There is no searching out of the Ruler of all: his strength and his judging are great; he is full of righteousness, doing no wrong.

²⁴For this cause men go in fear of him; he has no respect for any who are wise in heart.

Job 38

¹And the Lord made answer to Job out of the storm-wind, and said,

²Who is this who makes the purpose of God dark by words without knowledge?

³Get your strength together like a man of war; I will put questions to you, and you will give me the answers.

⁴Where were you when I put the earth on its base? Say, if you have knowledge.

⁵By whom were its measures fixed? Say, if you have wisdom; or by whom was the line stretched out over it?

⁶On what were its pillars based, or who put down its angle-stone,

⁷When the morning stars made songs together, and all the sons of the gods gave cries of joy?

⁸Or where were you when the sea came to birth, pushing out from its secret place;

⁹When I made the cloud its robe, and put thick clouds as bands round it,

¹⁰Ordering a fixed limit for it, with locks and doors;

¹¹And said, So far you may come, and no farther; and here the pride of your waves will be stopped?

¹²Have you, from your earliest days, given orders to the morning, or made the dawn conscious of its place;

¹³So that it might take a grip of the skirts of the earth, shaking all the evil-doers out of it?

¹⁴It is changed like wet earth under a stamp, and is coloured like a robe;

¹⁵And from the evil-doers their light is kept back, and the arm of pride is broken.

¹⁶Have you come into the springs of the sea, walking in the secret places of the deep?

¹⁷Have the doors of death been open to you, or have the door-keepers of the dark ever seen you?

¹⁸Have you taken note of the wide limits of the earth? Say, if you have knowledge of it all.

¹⁹Which is the way to the resting-place of the light, and where is the store-house of the dark;

²⁰So that you might take it to its limit, guiding it to its house?

²¹No doubt you have knowledge of it, for then you had come to birth, and the number of your days is great.

²²Have you come into the secret place of snow, or have you seen the store-houses of the ice-drops,

²³Which I have kept for the time of trouble, for the day of war and fighting?

²⁴Which is the way to the place where the wind is measured out, and the east wind sent out over the earth?

²⁵By whom has the way been cut for the flowing of the rain, and the flaming of the thunder;

²⁶Causing rain to come on a land where no man is living, on the waste land which has no people;

²⁷To give water to the land where there is waste and destruction, and to make the dry land green with young grass?

²⁸Has the rain a father? or who gave birth to the drops of night mist?

²⁹Out of whose body came the ice? and who gave birth to the cold mist of heaven?

³⁰The waters are joined together, hard as a stone, and the face of the deep is covered.

³¹Are the bands of the Pleiades fixed by you, or are the cords of Orion made loose?

³²Do you make Mazzaroth come out in its right time, or are the Bear and its children guided by you?

³³Have you knowledge of the laws of the heavens? did you give them rule over the earth?

³⁴Is your voice sent up to the cloud, so that you may be covered by the weight of waters?

³⁵Do you send out the thunder-flames, so that they may go, and say to you, Here we are?

³⁶Who has put wisdom in the high clouds, or given knowledge to the lights of the north?

³⁷By whose wisdom are the clouds numbered, or the water-skins of the heavens turned to the earth,

³⁸When the earth becomes hard as metal, and is joined together in masses?

³⁹Do you go after food for the she-lion, or get meat so that the young lions may have enough,

⁴⁰When they are stretched out in their holes, and are waiting in the brushwood?

⁴¹Who gives in the evening the meat he is searching for, when his young ones are crying to God; when the young lions with loud noise go wandering after their food?