Job 36

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¹Elihu continued speaking: ²“Let me go on, and I will show you the truth. For I have not finished defending God! ✦ ³I will present profound arguments for the righteousness of my Creator. ✦ ⁴I am telling you nothing but the truth, for I am a man of great knowledge. ✦ ⁵“God is mighty, but he does not despise anyone! He is mighty in both power and understanding. ✦ ⁶He does not let the wicked live but gives justice to the afflicted. ✦ ⁷He never takes his eyes off the innocent, but he sets them on thrones with kings and exalts them forever. ✦ ⁸If they are bound in chains and caught up in a web of trouble, ✦ ⁹he shows them the reason. He shows them their sins of pride. ✦ ¹⁰He gets their attention and commands that they turn from evil. ✦ ¹¹“If they listen and obey God, they will be blessed with prosperity throughout their lives. All their years will be pleasant. ✦ ¹²But if they refuse to listen to him, they will cross over the river of death, dying from lack of understanding. ✦ ¹³For the godless are full of resentment. Even when he punishes them, they refuse to cry out to him for help. ✦ ¹⁴They die when they are young, after wasting their lives in immoral living. ✦ ¹⁵But by means of their suffering, he rescues those who suffer. For he gets their attention through adversity. ✦ ¹⁶“God is leading you away from danger, Job, to a place free from distress. He is setting your table with the best food. ✦ ¹⁷But you are obsessed with whether the godless will be judged. Don’t worry, judgment and justice will be upheld. ✦ ¹⁸But watch out, or you may be seduced by wealth. Don’t let yourself be bribed into sin. ✦ ¹⁹Could all your wealth or all your mighty efforts keep you from distress? ✦ ²⁰Do not long for the cover of night, for that is when people will be destroyed. ✦ ²¹Be on guard! Turn back from evil, for God sent this suffering to keep you from a life of evil. ✦ ²²“Look, God is all-powerful. Who is a teacher like him? ✦ ²³No one can tell him what to do, or say to him, ‘You have done wrong.’ ✦ ²⁴Instead, glorify his mighty works, singing songs of praise. ✦ ²⁵Everyone has seen these things, though only from a distance. ²⁶“Look, God is greater than we can understand. His years cannot be counted. ✦ ²⁷He draws up the water vapor and then distills it into rain. ✦ ²⁸The rain pours down from the clouds, and everyone benefits. ✦ ²⁹Who can understand the spreading of the clouds and the thunder that rolls forth from heaven? ✦ ³⁰See how he spreads the lightning around him and how it lights up the depths of the sea. ✦ ³¹By these mighty acts he nourishes the people, giving them food in abundance. ✦ ³²He fills his hands with lightning bolts and hurls each at its target. ✦ ³³The thunder announces his presence; the storm announces his indignant anger. ✦

Tap any verse for its study page. Underlined terms mark a concept, person, or place; ✦ marks verses with cross-references.

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Where this chapter connects

Job 37 ·12 Job 34 ·10 Job 38 ·9 Job 21 ·7 Ps 104 ·6 Job 33 ·6 Job 26 ·5 Job 22 ·5

Christ at the center

Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.

How Job 36 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

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★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical
A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.

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SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical
Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.

Commentaries & study tools

VideoBibleProject — Job videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
VideoWatch teaching on Job 36YouTube · Lay · Free
Sermons and chapter teaching from across YouTube.
CommentaryEnduring Word — Job 36David Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical
Readable, verse-by-verse exposition of the whole chapter.
CommentaryMatthew Henry on JobMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
ReferenceBlue Letter Bible — Job 36Blue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free
Interlinear, lexicon, and study tools across the chapter.

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