36:2 “Bear with me a little, and I will show you that there is more to say on God’s behalf.
36:3 I may search far and wide for my arguments, but I will ascribe righteousness to God my maker.
36:4 For the fact is that my words are true; you have with you a man whose views are pure.
36:5 “Look, God is powerful and despises no one, powerful in his strength of understanding.
36:6 He does not preserve the lives of the wicked, but he gives justice to the poor.
36:7 He does not withdraw his eyes from the righteous; but when he sets kings on their throne forever, they may become proud;
36:8 if, then, they are bound in chains, held in oppressive cords,
36:9 he shows them the results of their doings, the crimes caused by their pride.
36:10 He sounds a warning in their ears and orders them to repent of their evil.
36:11 “If they pay attention and obey him, they spend their days in prosperity; their years pass pleasantly.
36:12 But if they don’t pay attention, they perish by the sword and die without learning their lesson.
36:13 The godless in heart cherish their anger, not crying for help when he binds them.
36:14 Their soul perishes in their youth, and their life becomes depraved.
36:15 “God, with his affliction, delivers the afflicted; and he gets their attention by pressing on them.
36:16 Indeed [Iyov], he is drawing you away from distress to an untroubled open place, with rich food on your table.
36:17 But the judgment on the wicked applies fully to you, judgment and condemnation take hold [of them].
36:18 For beware of wrath when abundance entices you; don’t let a big bribe turn you aside.
36:19 Will your great wealth help you? or all your efforts, no matter how strong?
36:20 Don’t desire the night, when people suddenly die.
36:21 Be careful; turn away from wrongdoing; for because of this, you have been tested by affliction.
36:22 “Look, God is exalted in his strength; who is a teacher like him?
36:23 Who ever prescribed his course for him? Who ever said, ‘What you are doing is wrong’?
36:24 Remember, rather, to magnify his work, of which many have sung.
36:25 Everyone has seen it, [but] humans see it [only] from a distance.
36:26 Look, God is great, beyond what we can know; the number of his years is uncountable.
36:27 “He makes the droplets of water, which condense into rain from his mist.
36:28 The clouds pour it down upon humankind in abundance.
36:29 Can anyone fathom the spreading of the clouds, or the crashes that come from his canopy?
36:30 See how he scatters his lightning over it and covers the roots of the sea.
36:31 By these things he judges the people and also gives food in plenty.
36:32 He gathers the lightning into his hands and commands it to strike the target.
36:33 Its crashing announces its presence and apprises the cattle of what is coming.
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