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36 Elihu also proceeded, and said:

²Suffer me a little, and I will tell thee;

For there are yet words on God's behalf.

³I will fetch my knowledge from afar,

And will ascribe righteousness to my Maker.

⁴For truly my words are not false;

One that is upright in mind is with thee.

⁵Behold, God is mighty, yet He despiseth not any;

He is mighty in strength of understanding.

⁶He preserveth not the life of the wicked;

But giveth to the poor their right.

⁷He withdraweth not His eyes from the righteous;

But with kings upon the throne

He setteth them for ever, and they are exalted.

⁸And if they be bound in fetters,

And be holden in cords of affliction;

⁹Then He declareth unto them their work,

And their transgressions, that they have behaved themselves proudly.

¹⁰He openeth also their ear to discipline,

And commandeth that they return from iniquity.

¹¹If they hearken and serve Him,

They shall spend their days in prosperity,

And their years in pleasures.

¹²But if they hearken not, they shall perish by the sword,

And they shall die without knowledge.

¹³But they that are godless in heart lay up anger;

They cry not for help when He bindeth them.

¹⁴Their soul perisheth in youth,

And their life as that of the depraved.

¹⁵He delivereth the afflicted by His affliction,

And openeth their ear by tribulation.

¹⁶Yea, He hath allured thee out of distress

Into a broad place, where there is no straitness;

And that which is set on thy table is full of fatness;

¹⁷And thou art full of the judgment of the wicked;

Judgment and justice take hold on them.

¹⁸For beware of wrath, lest thou be led away by thy sufficiency;

Neither let the greatness of the ransom turn thee aside.

¹⁹Will thy riches avail, that are without stint,

Or all the forces of thy strength?

²⁰Desire not the night,

When peoples are cut off in their place.

²¹Take heed, regard not iniquity;

For this hast thou chosen rather than affliction.

 

²²Behold, God doeth loftily in His power;

Who is a teacher like Him?

²³Who hath enjoined Him His way?

Or who hath said: 'Thou hast wrought unrighteousness'?

²⁴Remember that thou magnify His work,

Whereof men have sung.

²⁵All men have looked thereon;

Man beholdeth it afar off.

²⁶Behold, God is great, beyond our knowledge;

The number of His years is unsearchable.

²⁷For He draweth away the drops of water,

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