Dual Panel1Then Elihu went on to say:
2Be patient a little longer, and let me enlighten you; there is still more to be said on God's behalf.
3I shall search far and wide to support my conclusions, as I ascribe justice to my Maker.
4There are, I claim, no flaws in my reasoning; before you stands one whose conclusions are sound.
5God, I say, repudiates the high and mighty
6and does not let the wicked prosper, but bestows justice on the wronged.
7He does not deprive sufferers of their due, but on the throne with kings he seats them in eminence, for ever exalted.
8Next you may see them loaded with fetters, held fast in chains like captives:
9he denounces their conduct to them, showing how, puffed with pride, they lapsed into sin.
10With his warnings sounding in their ears he directs them back from their evil courses.
11If they listen and serve him, they will live out their days in prosperity and their years in comfort.
12But, if they do not listen, they cross the river of death, dying with their lesson unlearnt.
13The proud rage against him and do not cry to him for help when caught in his toils;
14so they die in their prime, short-lived as male prostitutes.
15Those who suffer he rescues through suffering and teaches them by the discipline of affliction.
16Beware, if you are tempted to exchange hardship for comfort, with unlimited plenty spread before you and a generous table;
17if you eat your fill of a rich man's fare when you are occupied with the business of the law,
18do not be led astray by lavish gifts of wine and do not let bribery warp your judgement.
19Will that wealth of yours, however great, avail you, or all the resources of your high position?
20Have no fear if in the breathless terrors of the night you see nations vanish where they stand.
21Take care not to turn to mischief, for that is why you are tried by affliction.
22God is pre-eminent in majesty; who wields such sovereign power as he?
23Who has prescribed his course for him or said to him, “You have done wrong”?
24Remember, then, to sing the praises of his work, as mortals have always sung them.
25All mankind gazes at him; the race of mortals look on from afar.
26Consider: God is so great that we cannot know him; the number of his years is past searching out.
27He draws up drops of water from the sea and distils rain from the flood;
28the rain-clouds pour down in torrents, they descend in showers on the ground;
29Can anyone read the secret of the billowing clouds, spread like a carpet under his pavilion?
30See how he scatters his light about him, and its rays cover the sea.
31thus he sustains the nations and provides food in plenty.
32He charges the thunderbolts with flame and launches them straight at the mark;
33in his anger he calls up the tempest, and the thunder is the herald of its coming.