Job 36 Summary, Context, and Full Chapter

Job 36 continues Elihu's speech as he urges Job to listen and considers how God uses suffering, correction, and mercy. The chapter balances warnings about pride with a strong view of God's greatness, justice, and care. It also turns to creation, where rain, thunder, and lightning point to God's power.

What happens in Job 36?

Elihu says there is more to say about God's justice and insists that his words are true. He explains that God is powerful, not partial, and attentive to both the righteous and the afflicted. Suffering can be a means of correction, leading people away from sin and toward obedience. Elihu warns Job not to be drawn off course by wealth or resentment. He then lifts the focus to God's greatness in nature, describing rain, storms, thunder, and lightning as signs of divine rule and provision.

This chapter is part of Elihu's final address in Job. After Job's friends have largely failed to answer his suffering well, Elihu offers his own perspective before the Lord speaks. Job 36 continues his argument that God is just, active, and greater than human understanding, preparing for the dramatic shift that comes in the next chapters.

Themes to notice

God's justiceElihu presents God as righteous toward both the afflicted and the wicked.
Correction through sufferingThe chapter suggests that hardship can wake people up to turn from sin.
God in creationStorms, rain, and thunder are described as signs of God's power and rule.

Questions for Job 36

How does Elihu connect suffering with correction and repentance in this chapter?
What does Job 36 say about God's justice toward the righteous and the wicked?
How do the images of rain, thunder, and lightning help explain God's greatness?

Read the full text of Job 36 below, then open it in the reader to highlight, take notes, or ask follow-up Bible questions. No account is required to read.

Job 36

Elihu Describes God’s Power

1And Elihu continued:

2“Bear with me a little longer, and I will show you

that there is more to be said on God’s behalf.

3I get my knowledge from afar,

and I will ascribe justice to my Maker.

4For truly my words are free of falsehood;

one perfect in knowledge is with you.

5Indeed, God is mighty, but He despises no one;

He is mighty in strength of understanding.

6He does not keep the wicked alive,

but He grants justice to the afflicted.

7He does not take His eyes off the righteous,

but He enthrones them with kings

and exalts them forever.

8And if men are bound with chains,

caught in cords of affliction,

9then He tells them their deeds

and how arrogantly they have transgressed.

10He opens their ears to correction

and commands that they turn from iniquity.

11If they obey and serve Him,

then they end their days in prosperity

and their years in happiness.

12But if they do not obey,

then they perish by the sword

and die without knowledge.

13The godless in heart harbor resentment;

even when He binds them, they do not cry for help.

14They die in their youth,

among the male shrine prostitutes.

15God rescues the afflicted by their affliction

and opens their ears in oppression.

16Indeed, He drew you from the jaws of distress

to a spacious and broad place,

to a table full of richness.

17But now you are laden with the judgment due the wicked;

judgment and justice have seized you.

18Be careful that no one lures you with riches;

do not let a large bribe lead you astray.

19Can your wealth or all your mighty effort

keep you from distress?

20Do not long for the night,

when people vanish from their homes.

21Be careful not to turn to iniquity,

for this you have preferred to affliction.

22Behold, God is exalted in His power.

Who is a teacher like Him?

23Who has appointed His way for Him,

or told Him, ‘You have done wrong’?

24Remember to magnify His work,

which men have praised in song.

25All mankind has seen it;

men behold it from afar.

26Indeed, God is great—beyond our knowledge;

the number of His years is unsearchable.

27For He draws up drops of water

which distill the rain from the mist,

28which the clouds pour out

and shower abundantly on mankind.

29Furthermore, who can understand how the clouds spread out,

how the thunder roars from His pavilion?

30See how He scatters His lightning around Him

and covers the depths of the sea.

31For by these He judges the nations

and provides food in abundance.

32He fills His hands with lightning

and commands it to strike its mark.

33The thunder declares His presence;

even the cattle regard the rising storm.

What happens in Job 36?

Themes to notice

Questions for Job 36

Job 36

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