Elihu proclaims God's goodness
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Elihu finished speaking by saying this:
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“Job, be patient with me a little longer because I have something else to teach you. I have something else to say in order to prove that God does no wrong.
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I will tell you what I have learned from many sources, in order to show that God, my creator, is just.
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I will not say anything to you that is false; I, who am standing in front of you, am someone who understands things very well.
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Really, God is very powerful, and he does not despise anyone, and he understands everything.
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He does not allow wicked people to remain alive, contrary to what you have claimed, and he always acts justly toward those who are suffering.
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He always watches over those who are righteous; he makes them prosper, as if they were kings, and he causes others to honor them forever.
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However, if people who commit crimes are caught, or if they suffer in prison for having done wrong,
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then God shows them what they have done; he shows them the sins that they have committed, and he shows them that they have been arrogant.
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He causes them to listen to what he is warning them, and he commands them to turn away from doing what is evil.
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If they listen to him and serve him, they will prosper and be happy for all the years that they continue to live.
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But if they do not listen to him, they will die violently because they understand nothing about God and what he wants them to do.
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People who fail to honor God continue being angry, and they do not cry out for help even when God is punishing them.
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They die while they are still young, disgraced because of their immoral behavior.
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God actually rescues people by causing them to suffer; by afflicting them, he causes them to listen to what he is telling them.
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Job, I think that God wants to bring you out of your troubles and allow you to live without distress; he wants your table to be full of very nice food.
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However, now he is punishing you as he would punish the wicked; God has judged you very rightly.
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Do not let your anger give you an excuse to mock other people, and do not let a large amount of money paid as a bribe compel you to ruin your life.
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If that happens, it certainly will not help you to cry out when you are distressed; none of your strength will help you in that case.
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Do not wish that it would be nighttime in order that you might mistreat others without anyone knowing it; night is the time when even entire people groups are destroyed!
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Be careful not to begin doing evil deeds, because God has caused you to suffer to prevent you from doing evil.
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Truly, people praise God because he is so powerful; there is certainly no teacher who teaches what he teaches.
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No one has told him what he should do, and no one has said to him, ‘You have done what is wrong!’
Elihu proclaims God's majesty
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People have always sung songs to praise him, so you also should never forget to praise him for what he has done.
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All people have seen what he has done, but we understand those things only a little.
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How great God is! We are not able to know how great he is, and we do not understand how old he is.
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He draws water up from the earth and puts it in clouds and causes it to become rain;
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the rain pours down from the sky and causes abundant showers to fall on everyone.
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No one can understand how the clouds move across the sky or how it thunders in the sky where God lives.
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He causes lightning to flash all around him, but he causes the oceans to remain dark.
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By providing plenty of rain for everyone, he gives them abundant food.
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It is as though he were holding the lightning in his hands, and then he commands it to strike where he wants it to.
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When we hear his thunder, we know that there will be a storm, and the cattle know it, too.
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