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- Elihu also proceeded, and said:
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- Suffer me a little, and I will tell thee;
for there are yet words on God"s behalf.
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- I will fetch my knowledge from afar, and will ascribe righteousness to my Maker.
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- For truly my words are not false;
one that is upright in mind is with thee.
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- Behold, God is mighty, yet He despiseth not any;
He is mighty in strength of understanding.
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- He preserveth not the life of the wicked;
but giveth to the poor their right.
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- He withdraweth not His eyes from the righteous;
but with kings upon the throne He setteth them for ever, and they are exalted.
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- And if they be bound in fetters, and be holden in cords of affliction;
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- Then He declareth unto them their work, and their transgressions, that they have behaved themselves proudly.
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- He openeth also their ear to discipline, and commandeth that they return from iniquity.
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- If they hearken and serve Him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures.
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- But if they hearken not, they shall perish by the sword, and they shall die without knowledge.
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- But they that are godless in heart lay up anger;
they cry not for help when He bindeth them.
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- Their soul perisheth in youth, and their life as that of the depraved.
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- He delivereth the afflicted by His affliction, and openeth their ear by tribulation.
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- Yea, He hath allured thee out of distress into a broad place, where there is no straitness;
and that which is set on thy table is full of fatness;
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- And thou art full of the judgment of the wicked;
judgment and justice take hold on them.
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- For beware of wrath, lest thou be led away by thy sufficiency;
neither let the greatness of the ransom turn thee aside.
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- Will thy riches avail, that are without stint, or all the forces of thy strength?
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- Desire not the night, when peoples are cut off in their place.
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- Take heed, regard not iniquity;
for this hast thou chosen rather than affliction.
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- Behold, God doeth loftily in His power;
who is a teacher like Him?
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- Who hath enjoined Him His way?
Or who hath said: "Thou hast wrought unrighteousness"?
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- Remember that thou magnify His work, whereof men have sung.
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- All men have looked thereon;
man beholdeth it afar off.
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- Behold, God is great, beyond our knowledge;
the number of His years is unsearchable.
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- For He draweth away the drops of water, which distil rain from His vapour;
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- Which the skies pour down and drop upon the multitudes of men.
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- Yea, can any understand the spreadings of the clouds, the crashings of His pavilion?
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- Behold, He spreadeth His light upon it;
and He covereth the depths of the sea.
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- For by these He judgeth the peoples;
He giveth food in abundance.
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- He covereth His hands with the lightning, and giveth it a charge that it strike the mark.
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- The noise thereof telleth concerning it, the cattle also concerning the storm that cometh up.
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