Job 36:1-33 NCV

[1] Elihu continued: [2] "Listen to me a little longer, and I will show 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. [4] You can be sure that my words are not false; one who really knows is with you. [5] "God is powerful, but he does not hate people; he is powerful and sure of what he wants to do. [6] He will not keep evil people alive, but he gives the poor their rights. [7] He always watches over those who do right; he sets them on thrones with kings and they are honored forever. [8] If people are bound in chains, or if trouble, like ropes, ties them up, [9] God tells them what they have done, that they have sinned in their pride. [10] God makes them listen to his warning and commands them to change from doing evil. [11] If they obey and serve him, the rest of their lives will be successful, and the rest of their years will be happy. [12] But if they do not listen, they will die by the sword, and they will die without knowing why. [13] "Those who have wicked hearts hold on to anger. Even when God punishes them, they do not cry for help. [14] They die while they are still young, and their lives end in disgrace. [15] But God saves those who suffer through their suffering; he gets them to listen through their pain. [16] "God is gently calling you from the jaws of trouble to an open place of freedom where he has set your table full of the best food. [17] But now you are being punished like the wicked; you are getting justice. [18] Be careful! Don't be led away from God by riches; don't let much money turn you away. [19] Neither your wealth nor all your great strength will keep you out of trouble. [20] Don't wish for the night when people are taken from their homes. [21] Be careful not to turn to evil, which you seem to want more than suffering. [22] "God is great and powerful; no other teacher is like him. [23] No one has planned his ways for him; no one can say to God, 'You have done wrong.' [24] Remember to praise 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! No one knows how old he is. [27] "He evaporates the drops of water from the earth and turns them into rain. [28] The rain then pours down from the clouds, and showers fall on people. [29] No one understands how God spreads out the clouds or how he sends thunder from where he lives. [30] Watch how God scatters his lightning around him, lighting up the deepest parts of the sea. [31] This is the way God governs the nations; this is how he gives us enough food. [32] God fills his hands with lightning and commands it to strike its target. [33] His thunder announces the coming storm, and even the cattle know it is near.