Elihu continued his final speech
37
1 “My heart thumps wildly when I think about that.2 Listen, all of you, to the thunder,
which is like God's voice.
3 He sends thunder all across the sky,
and he sends lightning to the most distant places on the earth.
4 After the lightning flashes, we hear the thunder
which is like God's majestic voice;
he does not restrain the lightning when he speaks.
5 When God speaks, it is awesome, like thunder;
he does amazing things which we cannot fully understand.
6 He commands the snow to fall on the ground,
and sometimes he causes it to rain very hard.
7 And when God does that, it prevents people from working,
in order that all people may know that he is the one who has done that by his power.
When it rains, the animals go into their hiding places,
and they remain there until the rain stops.
9 The hurricanes come from the place in the south where they start,
and the cold wind comes from the north.
10 In the winter, the cold north wind is like God's breath that causes water to freeze
and the lakes to become ice.
11 God fills the clouds with moisture,
and lightning flashes from the clouds.
12 He guides the clouds and causes them to move back and forth
in order that they may accomplish all that he commands them to do, all over the world.
13 Sometimes God sends rain to punish us,
and sometimes he sends rain to show us that he acts kindly toward us.
14 Job, listen to this;
stop and think about the wonderful things that God does.
15 Do you know how God commands the lightning to flash down from his clouds?
16 Only God knows everything perfectly;
So you certainly do not know how he causes the clouds to float wonderfully across the sky!
17 No, you just sweat there in your clothes;
it is very oppressive when the hot wind stops blowing from the south and all the leaves on the trees do not move.
18 You certainly cannot stretch out the skies like God does and make them as hard as a sheet of polished brass!
19 Job, tell us what we should say to God;
we do not know anything.
As a result, we do not know what to say to him to defend ourselves.
20 Should I tell God that I want to speak to him?
No, because if I did that, he might destroy me.
21 Now people cannot look directly at the sun
when it shines brightly in the sky after the wind has blown the clouds away;
so, we certainly cannot look at the brightness of God.
22 God comes out of the north with a light that shines like gold;
his glory causes us to be afraid.
23 Almighty God has very great power,
and we cannot come near to him.
He always acts righteously,
and he will never oppress us.
24 That is the reason that we have an awesome respect for him;
he does not pay attention to those who proudly, but wrongly, think that they are wise.”