Job 36:1-33 TLB

[1] Elihu continued: [2] "Let me go on and I will show you the truth of what I am saying. For I have not finished defending God! [3] I will give you many illustrations of the righteousness of my Maker. [4] I am telling you the honest truth, for I am a man of well-rounded knowledge. [5] "God is almighty and yet does not despise anyone! And he is perfect in his understanding. [6] He does not reward the wicked with his blessings, but gives them their full share of punishment. [7] He does not ignore the good men but honors them by placing them upon eternal, kingly thrones. [8] If troubles come upon them and they are enslaved and afflicted, [9] then he takes the trouble to point out to them the reason, what they have done that is wrong, or how they have behaved proudly. [10] He helps them hear his instruction to turn away from their sin. [11] "If they listen and obey him, then they will be blessed with prosperity throughout their lives. [12] If they won't listen to him, they shall perish in battle and die because of their lack of good sense. [13] But the godless reap his anger. They do not even return to him when he punishes them. [14] They die young after lives of dissipation and depravity. [15] He delivers by distress! This makes them listen to him! [16] "How he wanted to lure you away from danger into a wide and pleasant valley and to prosper you there. [17] But you are too preoccupied with your imagined grievances against others. [18] Watch out! Don't let your anger at others lead you into scoffing at God! Don't let your suffering embitter you at the only one who can deliver you. [19] Do you really think that if you shout loudly enough against God, he will be ashamed and repent? Will this put an end to your chastisement? [20] "Do not desire the nighttime, with its opportunities for crime. [21] Turn back from evil, for it was to prevent you from getting into a life of evil that God sent this suffering. [22] "Look, God is all-powerful. Who is a teacher like him? [23] Who can say that what he does is absurd or evil? [24] Instead, glorify him for his mighty works for which he is so famous. [25] Everyone has seen these things from a distance. [26] "God is so great that we cannot begin to know him. No one can begin to understand eternity. [27] He draws up the water vapor and then distills it into rain, [28] which the skies pour down. [29] Can anyone really understand the spreading of the clouds and the thunders within? [30] See how he spreads the lightning around him, and blankets the tops of the mountains. [31] By his fantastic powers in nature he punishes or blesses the people, giving them food in abundance. [32] He fills his hands with lightning bolts. He hurls each at its target. [33] We feel his presence in the thunder. Even the cattle know when a storm is coming.