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Elihu Says God Gives the Afflicted Justice

¹ Then Elihu continued and said,

² "Wait for me a little, and I will show you
That there ^(F1)is yet more to be said in God's behalf.

³ "I will take up my knowledge from afar,
And I will ascribe ^(C1)righteousness to my Maker.

⁴ "For truly ^(C1)my words are not a lie;
One who is ^(F1)(C2)perfect in knowledge is with you.

⁵ "Behold, God is mighty but does not ^(C1)reject;
He is ^(C2)mighty in the power of His heart.

⁶ "He does not ^(C1)keep the wicked alive,
But gives justice to ^(C2)the afflicted.

⁷ "He does not ^(C1)withdraw His eyes from the righteous;
But ^(C2)with kings on the throne
He has seated them forever, and they are exalted.

⁸ "And if they are bound in fetters,
And are caught in the cords of ^(C1)affliction,

⁹ Then He declares to them their work
And their transgressions, that they have ^(C1)magnified themselves.

¹⁰ "^(C1)He opens their ear to discipline,
And ^(C2)says that they return from wickedness.

¹¹ "If they hear and serve Him,
They will ^(C1)end their days in prosperity
And their years in ^(C2)pleasures.

¹² "But if they do not hear, they shall pass away ^(C1)by a weapon
And they will ^(C2)breathe their last without knowledge.

¹³ "But the godless in heart lay up anger;
They do not cry for help when He binds them.

¹⁴ "^(F1)They die in youth,
And their life perishes among the ^(C1)cult prostitutes.

¹⁵ "He delivers the afflicted in ^(F1)their ^(C1)affliction,
And ^(C2)opens their ear in ^(F2)time of oppression.

¹⁶ "Then indeed, He ^(C1)enticed you from the mouth of distress,
Instead of it, a broad place with no constraint;
And the comfort of your table full of ^(F1)fatness.

¹⁷ "But you were full of ^(C1)judgment on the wicked;
Judgment and justice take hold of you.

¹⁸ "Beware lest ^(C1)wrath entice you to scoffing;
And do not let the greatness of the ^(C2)atonement turn you aside.

¹⁹ "Will your ^(F1)cries keep you from distress,
Or all the forces of your power?

²⁰ "Do not long for ^(C1)the night,
When people ^(F1)vanish in their place.

²¹ "Be careful, do ^(C1)not turn to wickedness,
For you have chosen this to ^(C2)affliction.

²² "Behold, God is exalted in His power;
Who is a ^(C1)teacher like Him?

²³ "Who has appointed Him His way,
And who has said, '^(C1)You have worked out ^(F1)unrighteousness'?

²⁴ "Remember that you should ^(C1)exalt His work,
Of which men have ^(C2)sung.

²⁵ "All men have beheld it;
Man looks from afar.

²⁶ "Behold, God is ^(C1)exalted, and ^(C2)we do not know Him;
The ^(C3)number of His years is unsearchable.

²⁷ "For ^(C1)He draws up the drops of water,
They distill rain for His ^(F1)stream,

²⁸ Which the clouds pour down,
They drip upon man abundantly.

²⁹ "Can anyone discern the ^(C1)spreading of the clouds,
The ^(C2)thundering of His ^(F1)pavilion?

³⁰ "Behold, He spreads His ^(F1)lightning about Him,
And He covers the depths of the sea.

³¹ "For by these He ^(C1)judges peoples;
He ^(C2)gives food in abundance.

³² "He covers His hands with the ^(F1)lightning,
And ^(C1)commands it to strike the mark.

³³ "Its ^(C1)thundering declares about Him;
The cattle also, concerning what is coming up.