² “Bear with me a little longer, and I will explain,^[b]

for I still have something to say on God’s behalf.^[c]

³ I will bring my knowledge from far away,

and I will ascribe righteousness to my maker,

⁴ for truly my words^[d] are not falsehood;

one who has perfect knowledge is with you.^[e]

⁵ Look, God is mighty but^[f] does not despise anyone;

he is mighty and good in understanding.^[g]

⁶ He does not keep the wicked alive

but^[h] grants justice to the afflicted.

⁷ He does not withdraw his eyes from the righteous,

but^[i] he sets them forever with kings on the throne, and they are exalted.

⁸ “And if they are tied up with fetters,

if they are caught in the cords of misery,

⁹ then^[j] he declares their work to them,

and their transgressions, that they are behaving arrogantly.

¹⁰ So^[k] he opens their ear to the discipline,

and he commands that they return from mischief.

¹¹ If they listen and serve him,

they complete their days in prosperity and their years in pleasantness.

¹² But^[l] if they do not listen, they perish by the sword,

and they pass away without knowledge.

¹³ And the godless of heart cherish anger;

they do not cry for help when he binds them.

¹⁴ They die in their youth,^[m]

and their life ends among the male shrine prostitutes.

¹⁵ He delivers the afflicted by his misery,

and he opens their ears by the adversity.

¹⁶ And what’s more, he allured you out of distress^[n]

into a broad place, where in place of it was no constraint;

and what was set on your table is full of fatness.

¹⁷ But^[o] you are obsessed with the judgment of the wicked;

judgment and justice take hold of you.

¹⁸ Yes,^[p] it is wrath, so that it will not incite you into mockery;

and do not let the ransom’s greatness turn you aside.

¹⁹ Will your cry for help sustain you without distress,

or^[q] all the efforts of your strength?

²⁰ You must not long for the night,

to cut off people in their place.^[r]

²¹ Take care, you must not turn to mischief,

for because of this you have been tried by misery.

²² “Look, God is exalted in his power;

who is a teacher like him?

²³ Who has prescribed his way for him?

Or^[s] who says, ‘You have done wrong’?

²⁴ Remember that you should extol his work,

of which people have sung.

²⁵ All human beings have looked on it;

everyone watches from afar.

²⁶ “Look, God is exalted, and we do not know him;

the number of his years is unsearchable.

²⁷ Indeed, he draws up the drops of water;

he distills the rain into its mist,

²⁸ which the clouds pour down;

they shower abundantly on human beings.

²⁹ “Moreover, can anyone understand^[t] the spreading of clouds,

the thundering of his dwelling place?

³⁰ Look, he scatters his lightning around him,

and he covers the roots of the sea.

³¹ Indeed, he judges people by them;

he gives food in abundance.^[u]

³² He covers his hands with lightning,

and he commands it the place at which to strike.

³³ His thundering tells about him;

the livestock also tell concerning what rises.^[v]

Footnotes

1. Job 36:1 Hebrew “And”
2. Job 36:2 Literally “I will show you”
3. Job 36:2 Literally “yet on behalf of God words/sentences”
4. Job 36:4 Or “what I have to say”
5. Job 36:4 In other words, “Somebody who knows what he is talking about is addressing you”
6. Job 36:5 Hebrew “and”
7. Job 36:5 Literally “strength of heart”
8. Job 36:6 Hebrew “and”
9. Job 36:7 Hebrew “and”
10. Job 36:9 Hebrew “and”
11. Job 36:10 Hebrew “And”
12. Job 36:12 Hebrew “And”
13. Job 36:14 Literally “It dies in the youth of their self”
14. Job 36:16 Literally “from the mouth of distress”
15. Job 36:17 Hebrew “And”
16. Job 36:18 Or “Indeed”
17. Job 36:19 Hebrew “and”
18. Job 36:20 Literally “in place of them”
19. Job 36:23 Hebrew “And”
20. Job 36:29 Literally “if he can understand”
21. Job 36:31 Literally “as far as providing in abundance”
22. Job 36:33 Literally “about going up”