Jó 36

¹ Elihu also proceeded and sayde,

² Suffer me a litle, and I will instruct thee: for I haue yet to speake on Gods behalfe.

³ I will fetchHe shows that when we speak of God, we must lift our spirits higher than our natural sense is able to reach.my knowledge from afar, and will ascribe righteousness to my Maker.

⁴ For truly my words [shall] not [be] false: he that isYou will perceive that I am a faithful instructor, and that I speak to you in the name of God.perfect in knowledge [is] with thee.

⁵ Behold, God [is] mighty, and despiseth not [any: he is]Strong and constant, and of understanding: for these are the gifts of God, and he loves them in man: but as much as God punished Job now, it is a sign that these are not in him.mighty in strength [and] wisdom.

⁶ HeTherefore he will not preserve the wicked, but to the humble and afflicted heart he will show grace.preserveth not the life of the wicked: but giveth right to the poor.

⁷ He withdraweth not his eyes from the righteous: but withHe prefers the godly to honour.kings [are they] on the throne; yea, he doth establish them for ever, and they are exalted.

⁸ And if they bee bound in fetters and tyed with the cordes of affliction,

⁹ Then he sheweth them theirHe will move their hearts to feel their sins that they may come to him by repentance as he did Manasseh.work, and their transgressions that they have exceeded.

¹⁰ He openeth also their eare to discipline, and commandeth them that they returne fro iniquity.

¹¹ If they obey and serue him, they shal end their dayes in prosperity, & their yeres in pleasures.

¹² But if they obey not, they shall perish by the sword, and they shall dieThat is, in their folly or obstinacy, and so shall cause their own destruction.without knowledge.

¹³ But the hypocritesWhich are maliciously bent against God, and flatter themselves in their vices.in heart heap up wrath: theyWhen they are in affliction they do not seek God for help, as Asa in (2Ch_16:12).cry not when he bindeth them.

¹⁴ They die inThey die of some vile death, and that before they come to age.youth, and their life [is] among the unclean.

¹⁵ He deliuereth the poore in his affliction, & openeth their eare in trouble.

¹⁶ Even so would he have removed thee out of the strait [into] a broad place, where [there is] no straitness; andIf you had been obedient to God, he would have brought you to freedom and wealth.that which should be set on thy table [should be] full of fatness.

¹⁷ But thou hast fulfilled theYou are altogether after the manner of the wicked: for you murmur against the justice of God.judgment of the wicked: judgment and justice take hold [on thee].

¹⁸ God punishes you, lest you forget God in your wealth and so perish.Because [there is] wrath, [beware] lest he take thee away with [his] stroke: then a great ransom cannot deliver thee.

¹⁹ Wil he regard thy riches? he regardeth not golde, nor all them that excel in strength.

²⁰ Do not be curious in seeking the cause of God's judgments, when he destroys any.Desire not the night, when people are cut off in their place.

²¹ Take heed, regard notAnd so murmur against God through impatiency.iniquity: for this hast thou chosen rather than affliction.

²² Beholde, God exalteth by his power: what teacher is like him?

²³ Who hath appointed to him his way? or who can say, Thou hast done wickedly?

²⁴ Remember that thou magnifie his worke, which men behold.

²⁵ Every man may see it; man may behold [it]The works of God are revealed, that a man may see them afar off, and know God by the same.afar off.

²⁶ Behold, God [is] great,Our infirmity hinders us so that we cannot attain the perfect knowledge of God.and we know [him] not, neither can the number of his years be searched out.

²⁷ For he maketh small the drops of water: theyThat is, the rain comes from those drops of water which he keeps in the clouds.pour down rain according to the vapour thereof:

²⁸ Which raine the cloudes do droppe and let fall abundantly vpon man.

²⁹ Also can [any] understand the spreadings of the clouds, [or] the noise of hisMeaning, of the clouds, which he calls the tabernacle of God.tabernacle?

³⁰ Behold, he spreadeth his light uponUpon the cloud.it, and covereth theThat men cannot come to the knowledge of the springs of it.bottom of the sea.

³¹ For by them judgeth heHe shows that the rain has a double use: the one that it declares God's judgments, when it overflows any places, and the other that it makes the land fruitful.the people; he giveth meat in abundance.

³² With clouds he covereth the light; and commandeth it [not to shine] by [the cloud] that comethThat is, one cloud to dash against another.betwixt.

³³ The cold vapour shows him: that is, the cloud of the hot exhalation, which being taken in the cold cloud mounts up toward the place where the fire is, and so anger is engendered; that is, noise and thunderclaps.The noise thereof sheweth concerning it, the cattle also concerning the vapour.