Elihu’s Speech Continues
36 Elihu continued:
2 “·Listen to [or Be patient with] me a little longer, and I will ·show [inform] you
that there is more to be said for God.
3 What I know comes from far away.
I will ·show that my Maker is right [ascribe righteousness to my Maker].
4 You can be sure that my words are not false;
·one who really knows is with you [L perfect knowledge is with me].
5 “God is powerful, but he does not ·hate [disdain; reject] people;
he is strong and ·sure of what he wants to do [L powerful in understanding/heart].
6 He will not keep evil people alive,
but he gives the ·poor [afflicted] their rights.
7 He ·always watches over [L does not withhold his eye from] those who do right;
he sets them on thrones with kings
and they are ·honored [exalted] forever.
8 If people are bound in chains,
or if ·trouble [affliction], like ropes, ties them up,
9 God tells them what they have done,
that they have sinned in their pride.
10 He ·makes them listen [L opens their ear] to his ·warning [instruction; discipline]
and commands them to change from doing evil.
11 If they ·obey [or listen] and serve him,
·the rest of their lives will be successful [L their days will finish happily],
and the rest of their years will be ·happy [pleasant].
12 But if they do not listen,
they will ·die by the sword [or pass through the water channel; C reference to death],
and they will die ·without knowing why [in ignorance].
13 “Those who have ·wicked [L godless] hearts hold on to anger.
Even when ·God punishes [L he imprisons] them, they do not cry for help.
14 They die while they are still young,
and their lives end ·in disgrace [L among male prostitutes].
15 But God saves those who ·suffer [are afflicted] ·through [or by means of] their ·suffering [affliction];
he ·gets them to listen [L opens their ear] ·through [or by means of] their pain.
16 “God ·is gently calling [has wooed/enticed] you from the jaws of ·trouble [distress]
to an ·open place of freedom [L broad place with no constraints]
where he has set your table full of ·the best food [L fatness].
17 But now you are ·being punished like [obsessed/filled with the case of] the wicked;
·you are getting justice [L judgment and justice hold on tight to you].
18 Be careful! ·Don’t be led away from God by riches [L …lest anger seduce you by abundance];
don’t let ·much money [a big ransom/bribe] turn you away.
19 Neither your wealth nor all your great strength
will keep you out of trouble.
20 Don’t ·wish [pant; long] for the night
when people are taken from their homes.
21 Be careful not to turn to evil,
which you ·seem to want more [have chosen rather] than ·suffering [affliction].
22 “God is ·great [exulted] and powerful;
·no other teacher is [L who is a teacher…?] like him.
23 ·No one [L Who…?] has ·planned [prescribed] his ways for him;
·no one can say to God [L who says to him…?], ‘You have done wrong.’
24 Remember to ·praise [extol] his work,
about which people have sung.
25 Everybody has seen it;
people look at it from far off.
26 God is so ·great, greater than we can understand [exalted and we do not understand]!
·No one knows how old he is [L The number of his years is unknown].
27 “He ·evaporates [or holds in check] the drops of water from the earth
and ·turns them into rain [filters rain for his streams/or mists; Gen. 2:6].
28 The rain then pours down from the clouds,
and ·showers fall [L drops abundantly] on people.
29 ·No one understands [L Who can understand…?] ·how God spreads out the [L the spreading] clouds
or how he sends thunder from ·where he lives [L his booth/pavilion].
30 Watch how God ·scatters [spreads] his lightning around him,
·lighting up the deepest parts [L covering the roots] of the sea.
31 This is the way God ·governs [or sustains] the nations;
this is how he gives us ·enough [plenty; abundant] food.
32 God ·fills [L covers] his hands with lightning
and commands it to strike its target.
33 His thunder announces ·the coming storm [L about him/it; C thunder announces either the coming storm or the coming of God],
and ·even the cattle know it is near [or the storm announces his coming wrath; or the passion of his anger is against inquity].