Book - Job - Chapter = 36 --> NLT
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Elihu continued speaking:
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"Let me go on, and I will show you the truth of what I am saying. For I have not finished defending God!
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I will give you many illustrations of the righteousness of my Creator.
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I am telling you the honest truth, for I am a man of well-rounded knowledge.
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"God is mighty, yet he does not despise anyone! He is mighty in both power and understanding.
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He does not let the wicked live but gives justice to the afflicted.
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His eyes never leave the innocent, but he establishes and exalts them with kings forever.
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If troubles come upon them and they are enslaved and afflicted,
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he takes the trouble to show them the reason. He shows them their sins, for they have behaved proudly.
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He gets their attention and says they must turn away from evil.
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"If they listen and obey God, then they will be blessed with prosperity throughout their lives. All their years will be pleasant.
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But if they refuse to listen to him, they will perish in battle and die from lack of understanding.
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For the godless are full of resentment. Even when he punishes them, they refuse to cry out to him for help.
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They die young after wasting their lives in immoral living.
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But by means of their suffering, he rescues those who suffer. For he gets their attention through adversity.
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"God has led you away from danger, giving you freedom. You have prospered in a wide and pleasant valley.
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But you are too obsessed with judgment on the godless. Don't worry, justice will be upheld.
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But watch out, or you may be seduced with wealth. Don't let yourself be bribed into sin.
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Could all your wealth and mighty efforts keep you from distress?
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Do not long for the cover of night, for that is when people will be destroyed.
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Be on guard! Turn back from evil, for it was to prevent you from getting into a life of evil that God sent this suffering.
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"Look, God is all-powerful. Who is a teacher like him?
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No one can tell him what to do. No one can say to him, `You have done wrong.'
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Instead, glorify his mighty works, singing songs of praise.
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Everyone has seen these things, but only from a distance.
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"Look, God is exalted beyond what we can understand. His years are without number.
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He draws up the water vapor and then distills it into rain.
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The rain pours down from the clouds, and everyone benefits from it.
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Can anyone really understand the spreading of the clouds and the thunder that rolls forth from heaven?
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See how he spreads the lightning around him and how it lights up the depths of the sea.
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By his mighty acts he governs the people, giving them food in abundance.
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He fills his hands with lightning bolts. He hurls each at its target.
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The thunder announces his presence; the storm announces his indignant anger.