Look, God is greater than we can understand.His years cannot be counted.He draws up the water vapor and then distills it into rain...Who can understand the spreading of the clouds and the thunder that rolls from heaven?...The thunder announces his presence; the storm announces his indignant anger.My heart pounds as I think of this.It trembles within me.Listen carefully to the thunder of God's voic...  Read More

God is mighty, but he does not despise anyone! . . .He does not let the wicked live but gives justice to the afflicted.He never takes his eyes off the innocent,But he sets them on thrones with kings and exalts them forever.If they are bound in chains and caught up in a web of trouble, he shows them the reason…He gets their attention and commands that they turn from evil.If they listen and obey God...  Read More

"People cry out when they are oppressed.They groan beneath the power of the mighty."Yet they don't ask, 'Where is God my Creator, the one who gives songs in the night?Where is the one who makes us smarter than the animals and wiser than the birds of the sky?'And when they cry out, God does not answer because of their pride.But it is wrong to say God doesn't listen,To say the Almighty isn't concern...  Read More

Then Elihu said:"Do you think it is right for you to claim, 'I am righteous before God'?For you also ask, 'What's in it for me?What's the use of living a righteous life?'"I will answer you and all your friends, too.Look up into the sky, and see the clouds high above you.If you sin, how does that affect God?Even if you sin again and again, what effect will it have on him?If you are good, is this so...  Read More

So listen to me, you men of understanding.Far be it from God to do evil, for the Almighty to do wrong.He repays everyone for what they have done; He brings on them what their conduct deserves.It is unthinkable that God would do wrong, that the Almighty would pervert justice.Who appointed him over the earth? Who put him in charge of the whole world?If it were his intention and he withdrew his spiri...  Read More

But you have said in my hearing -- I heard the very words -- 'I am pure, I have done no wrong.I am clean and free from sin.Yet God has found fault with me;He considers me his enemy…'But I tell you, in this you are not right, for God is greater than any mortal.Why do you complain to him that he responds to no one's words?For God does speak -- now one way, now another -- though no one perceives it.I...  Read More

(Oh, that I had someone to hear me!I sign now my defense -- let the Almighty answer me;Let my accuser put his indictment in writing.Surely I would wear it on my shoulder, I would put it on like a crown.I would give him an account of my every step;I would present it to him as to a ruler.) Job 31:35-37 Job was at a point in his suffering when he desperately needed to hear from God!He felt innocent b...  Read More

If I have denied justice to any of my servants, whether male or female, when they had a grievance against me,What will I do when God confronts me?What will I answer when called to account?Did not he who made me in the womb make them?Did not the same one form us both within our mothers?If I have denied the desires of the poor or let the eyes of the widow grow weary;If I have kept my bread to myself...  Read More

I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a young woman.For what is our lot from God above, our heritage from the Almighty on high?Is it not ruin for the wicked, disaster for those who do wrong?Does He not see my ways and count my every step?If I have walked with falsehood or my foot has hurried after deceit -- let God weigh me in honest scales and He will know that I am blameless…If...  Read More

Terrors overwhelm me; my dignity is driven away as by the wind,  My safety vanishes like a cloud. And now my life ebbs away; days of suffering grip me…I cry out to you, God, but you do not answer; I stand up but you merely look at me.You turn on me ruthlessly; with the might of your hand you attack me...I know you will bring me down to death, to the place appointed for all the living…Have I not we...  Read More

How I long for the months gone by, for the days when God watched over me,When His lamp shone on my head…O for the days when I was in my prime, when God's intimate friendship blessed my house...When my path was drenched with cream…Whoever heard me spoke well of me, and those who saw me commended me because I rescued the poor who cried for help and the fatherless who had none to assist them.The one ...  Read More

There is a mine for silver and a place where gold is refined.Iron is taken from the earth, and copper is smelted from ore.Mortals put an end to the darkness; they search out the farthest recesses for ore in the blackest darkness.Far from human dwellings they cut a shaft, in places untouched by human feet; far from other people they dangle and sway. The earth, from which food comes, is transformed ...  Read More