I will teach you ¹  about the power ²  of God; What is on the Almighty’s mind ³  I will not conceal.

“O that I could be ¹  as ²  I was in the months now gone, ³  in the days ⁴  when God watched ⁵  over me,

“For God speaks, the first time in one way, the second time in another, though a person does not perceive ¹  it.

Because God has untied ¹  my tent cord and afflicted me, people throw off all restraint in my presence. ² 

If ¹  God ²  puts no trust in ³  his servants ⁴  and attributes ⁵  folly ⁶  to his angels,

With great power God ¹  grasps my clothing; ²  he binds me like the collar ³  of my tunic.

You may say, ¹  ‘God stores up a man’s ²  punishment for his children!’ ³  Instead let him repay ⁴  the man himself ⁵  so that ⁶  he may know it!

Then Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, became very angry. ¹  He was angry ²  with Job for justifying ³  himself rather than God. ⁴ 

I am ¹  a laughingstock ²  to my friends, ³  I, who called on God and whom he answered ⁴  – a righteous and blameless ⁵  man is a laughingstock!

“Therefore, listen to me, you men of understanding. ¹  Far be it from ²  God to do wickedness, from the Almighty to do evil.

“Be patient ¹  with me a little longer and I will instruct you, for I still have words to speak on God’s behalf. ² 

and reveal to you the secrets of wisdom – for true wisdom has two sides ¹  – so that you would know ²  that God has forgiven some of your sins. ³ 

“How often ¹  is the lamp of the wicked extinguished? How often does their ²  misfortune come upon them? How often does God apportion pain ³  to them ⁴  in his anger?

Now the day came when ²  the sons of God ³  came to present themselves before ⁴  the Lord – and Satan ⁵  also arrived among them.

Only in two things spare me, ¹  O God, ²  and then I will not hide from your face:

A flood will carry off his house, rushing waters on the day of God’s wrath.

God ¹  may let them rest in a feeling of security, ²  but he is constantly watching ³  all their ways. ⁴ 

If God ¹  were to set his heart on it, ²  and gather in his spirit and his breath,

For the arrows ¹  of the Almighty ²  are within me; my spirit ³  drinks their poison; ⁴  God’s sudden terrors ⁵  are arrayed ⁶  against me.

Again the day came when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also arrived among them to present himself before the Lord. ¹