1And Elihu went on to say:
1And Elihu answered and said:
2“Do you think this is just?
You say, ‘I am more righteous than God.’a
2“This do you reckon to be justice? You say, ‘I am righteous above God.’
3For you ask, ‘What does it profit me,
and what benefit do I gain apart from sin?’
3Indeed you say, ‘What does it benefit You? What do I gain from my sin?”
4I will reply to you
and to your friends as well.
4I will return to you the words, and to your friends with you.
5Look to the heavens and see;
gaze at the clouds high above you.
5Look to the heavens and see, and behold the clouds—they are higher than you.
6If you sin, what do you accomplish against Him?
If you multiply your transgressions, what do you do to Him?
6If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against Him? Or if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to Him?
7If you are righteous, what do you give Him,
or what does He receive from your hand?
7If you are righteous, what do you give to Him? Or what does He receive from your hand?
8Your wickedness affects only a man like yourself,
and your righteousness only a son of man.
8Your wickedness is to a man such as you, and your righteousness to a son of man.
9Men cry out under great oppression;
they plead for relief from the arm of the mighty.
9From the multitude of oppressions they cry out; they cry for help from the arm of the mighty.
10But no one asks, ‘Where is God my Maker,
who gives us songs in the night,
10Yet no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker, the One giving songs in the night,
11who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth
and makes us wiser than the birds of the air?’
11teaching us more than the beasts of the earth, and making us wiser than the birds of the heavens?’
12There they cry out, but He does not answer,
because of the pride of evil men.
12There they cry out, but He does not answer, from the face of the pride of evil ones.
13Surely God does not listen to empty pleas,
and the Almighty does not take note of it.
13Surely God will not listen to vanity, and Shaddai will not regard it.
14How much less, then, when you say that you do not see Him,
that your case is before Him and you must wait for Him,
14Indeed, though you say that you do not see Him, justice is before His face, and you must wait for Him.
15and further, that in His anger He has not punished
or taken much notice of folly!
15And now, because He does not visit His anger, and has not taken much note of transgression,
16So Job opens his mouth in vain
and multiplies words without knowledge.”
16and Job opens his mouth in vain; he multiplies words without knowledge.”