Job 37

Elihu continues to speak

1 ‘A storm like that makes me very afraid.

2 Listen well to God's words.

Listen to the loud noise when he speaks.

3 He sends lightning across the sky.

It goes in all directions.

4 After the lightning comes the sound of his voice.

When he speaks, it is like the sound of thunder.

5 When God speaks, great things happen.

He does things that we can never understand.

6 He tells the snow to drop on the earth.

And when it rains, he causes lots of rain to drop on the ground.

7 People need to see what God can do. He made them and he rules the weather.

And when the weather is bad like that, people are not able to work.

8 The wild animals hide among the rocks.

Or they stay in the places where they sleep at night.

9 The storm comes from the south.

And the cold winds come from the north.

10 Ice covers the rivers and lakes.

The cold wind that makes the ice is like God's breath.

11 He fills the clouds with water.

And he sends the lightning through the clouds.

12 The clouds move across all the earth.

They go where he sends them.

13 He sends the clouds so that there is water on the earth.

Sometimes he does this when he has to punish people.

Sometimes he does it to show them that he loves them.

14 Listen to the things that I tell you.

Stop, Job. Think about all the great things that God does.

15 God makes the clouds move.

But you do not know how he does that.

He makes the lightning shine for a moment in the sky.

But you do not know how he does that either.

16 You cannot explain how the clouds stay up in the sky.

Only God can do all these things, because he knows how to do everything.

17 When the warm wind blows from the south in summer, everything is hot.

And you are too warm in the clothes that you wear.

18 Then the sky becomes like a metal mirror that makes everything even warmer.

God has made it like that. And you cannot help him do it.

19 You think that you are wise. So tell us what we should say to God.

Help us, Job, because we do not know what to say to him.

20 I will not ask if I can speak to God.

If I ask, he might kill me.

21 The winds have blown all the clouds away.

Now no one can look at the sun, which shines brightly in the sky.

22 People can see lovely colours in the sky, towards the north. But they cannot see God.

He is too bright and too beautiful for us to look at.

23 God is so powerful that we cannot come near to him.

But he is always kind and fair to everyone.

24 People may think that they are wise.

But they are afraid of him, because only he is really wise.’